arthur zbygniew

syria poll: 55% want assad to stay!

2012-01-21T14:13:00.009Z

.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jan/17/syrians-support-assad-western-propaganda

français: http://www.voltairenet.org/Les-syriens-sont-une-majorite-a

Most Syrians back President Assad, but you'd never know from western media

Assad's popularity, Arab League observers, US military involvement: all distorted in the west's propaganda war

Jonathan Steele,
17 January 2012

A demonstration in support of Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, in Damascus.
'Some 55% of Syrians want Assad to stay, motivated by fear of civil war.'
Photograph: Hussein Malla/AP

Suppose a respectable opinion poll found that most Syrians are in favour of Bashar al-Assad remaining as president, would that not be major news? Especially as the finding would go against the dominant narrative about the Syrian crisis, and the media considers the unexpected more newsworthy than the obvious.

Alas, not in every case. When coverage of an unfolding drama ceases to be fair and turns into a propaganda weapon, inconvenient facts get suppressed. So it is with the results of a recent YouGov Siraj poll on Syria commissioned by The Doha Debates, funded by the Qatar Foundation. Qatar's royal family has taken one of the most hawkish lines against Assad – the emir has just called for Arab troops to intervene – so it was good that The Doha Debates published the poll on its website. The pity is that it was ignored by almost all media outlets in every western country whose government has called for Assad to go.

The key finding was that while most Arabs outside Syria feel the president should resign, attitudes in the country are different. Some 55% of Syrians want Assad to stay, motivated by fear of civil war – a spectre that is not theoretical as it is for those who live outside Syria's borders. What is less good news for the Assad regime is that the poll also found that half the Syrians who accept him staying in power believe he must usher in free elections in the near future. Assad claims he is about to do that, a point he has repeated in his latest speeches. But it is vital that he publishes the election law as soon as possible, permits political parties and makes a commitment to allow independent monitors to watch the poll.

Biased media coverage also continues to distort the Arab League's observer mission in Syria. When the league endorsed a no-fly zone in Libya last spring, there was high praise in the west for its action. Its decision to mediate in Syria was less welcome to western governments, and to high-profile Syrian opposition groups, who increasingly support a military rather than a political solution. So the league's move was promptly called into doubt by western leaders, and most western media echoed the line. Attacks were launched on the credentials of the mission's Sudanese chairman. Criticisms of the mission's performance by one of its 165 members were headlined. Demands were made that the mission pull out in favour of UN intervention.

The critics presumably feared that the Arab observers would report that armed violence is no longer confined to the regime's forces, and the image of peaceful protests brutally suppressed by army and police is false. Homs and a few other Syrian cities are becoming like Beirut in the 1980s or Sarajevo in the 1990s, with battles between militias raging across sectarian and ethnic fault lines.

As for foreign military intervention, it has already started. It is not following the Libyan pattern since Russia and China are furious at the west's deception in the security council last year. They will not accept a new United Nations resolution that allows any use of force. The model is an older one, going back to the era of the cold war, before "humanitarian intervention" and the "responsibility to protect" were developed and often misused. Remember Ronald Reagan's support for the Contras, whom he armed and trained to try to topple Nicaragua's Sandinistas from bases in Honduras? For Honduras read Turkey, the safe haven where the so-called Free Syrian Army has set up.

Here too western media silence is dramatic. No reporters have followed up on a significant recent article by Philip Giraldi, a former CIA officer who now writes for the American Conservative – a magazine that criticises the American military-industrial complex from a non-neocon position on the lines of Ron Paul, who came second in last week's New Hampshire Republican primary. Giraldi states that Turkey, a Nato member, has become Washington's proxy and that unmarked Nato warplanes have been arriving at Iskenderum, near the Syrian border, delivering Libyan volunteers and weapons seized from the late Muammar Gaddafi's arsenal. "French and British special forces trainers are on the ground," he writes, "assisting the Syrian rebels, while the CIA and US Spec Ops are providing communications equipment and intelligence to assist the rebel cause, enabling the fighters to avoid concentrations of Syrian soldiers …"

As the danger of full-scale war increases, Arab League foreign ministers are preparing to meet in Cairo this weekend to discuss the future of their Syrian mission. No doubt there will be western media reports highlighting remarks by those ministers who feel the mission has "lost credibility", "been duped by the regime" or "failed to stop the violence". Counter-arguments will be played down or suppressed.

In spite of the provocations from all sides the league should stand its ground. Its mission in Syria has seen peaceful demonstrations both for and against the regime. It has witnessed, and in some cases suffered from, violence by opposing forces. But it has not yet had enough time or a large enough team to talk to a comprehensive range of Syrian actors and then come up with a clear set of recommendations. Above all, it has not even started to fulfil that part of its mandate requiring it to help produce a dialogue between the regime and its critics. The mission needs to stay in Syria and not be bullied out.

guantanamo forever

2011-12-24T10:22:00.007Z

.
updated december 24

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/budget/201245-obama-says-he-wont-be-bound-by-guantanamo-gun-control-portions-of-omnibus

President Obama said friday he will not be bound by at least 20 policy riders in the 2012 omnibus funding the government, including provisions pertaining to Guantanamo Bay and gun control.

After he signed the omnibus into law friday, the White House released a concurrent signing statement saying Obama will object to portions of the legislation on constitutional grounds.

Signing statements are highly controversial, and their legality is disputed.

"I have advised the Congress that I will not construe these provisions as preventing me from fulfilling my constitutional responsibility to recommend to the Congress's consideration such measures as I shall judge necessary and expedient," Obama said in a statement as he signed the bill into law.

The signing statement says that on the issue of accused terrorist detainees, Obama will interpret and apply provisions that bar the transfer of detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, "in a manner that avoids constitutional conflicts."....

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/13/opinion/guantanamo-forever.html?_r=4&scp=1&sq=Guantanamo%20forever&st=cse

Op-Ed Contributors

Guantánamo Forever?

CHARLES C. KRULAK and JOSEPH P. HOAR
December 12, 2011

IN his inaugural address, President Obama called on us to “reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.” We agree. Now, to protect both, he must veto the National Defense Authorization Act that Congress is expected to pass this week.

This budget bill — which can be vetoed without cutting financing for our troops — is both misguided and unnecessary: the president already has the power and flexibility to effectively fight terrorism.

One provision would authorize the military to indefinitely detain without charge people suspected of involvement with terrorism, including United States citizens apprehended on American soil. Due process would be a thing of the past. Some claim that this provision would merely codify existing practice. Current law empowers the military to detain people caught on the battlefield, but this provision would expand the battlefield to include the United States — and hand Osama bin Laden an unearned victory long after his well-earned demise.

A second provision would mandate military custody for most terrorism suspects. It would force on the military responsibilities it hasn’t sought. This would violate not only the spirit of the post-Reconstruction act limiting the use of the armed forces for domestic law enforcement but also our trust with service members, who enlist believing that they will never be asked to turn their weapons on fellow Americans. It would sideline the work of the F.B.I. and local law enforcement agencies in domestic counterterrorism. These agencies have collected invaluable intelligence because the criminal justice system — unlike indefinite military detention — gives suspects incentives to cooperate.

Mandatory military custody would reduce, if not eliminate, the role of federal courts in terrorism cases. Since 9/11, the shaky, untested military commissions have convicted only six people on terror-related charges, compared with more than 400 in the civilian courts.

A third provision would further extend a ban on transfers from Guantánamo, ensuring that this morally and financially expensive symbol of detainee abuse will remain open well into the future. Not only would this bolster Al Qaeda’s recruiting efforts, it also would make it nearly impossible to transfer 88 men (of the 171 held there) who have been cleared for release. We should be moving to shut Guantánamo, not extend it.

Having served various administrations, we know that politicians of both parties love this country and want to keep it safe. But right now some in Congress are all too willing to undermine our ideals in the name of fighting terrorism. They should remember that American ideals are assets, not liabilities.

Charles C. Krulak and Joseph P. Hoar are retired four-star Marine generals.

A version of this op-ed appeared in print on December 13, 2011, on page A35 of the New York edition with the headline: Guantánamo Forever?.

see also:

Military given go-ahead to detain US terrorist suspects without trial

House Lawmakers Pass Defense Bill

From America to Amerika: The End Game

Suspend habeas corpus and enact martial law?

printemps syrien: pure fiction!

2011-12-23T21:29:00.011Z

.
http://www.letempsdz.com//content/view/67301/182/

Thierry Meyssan, journaliste et fondateur du Réseau Voltaire

«L'expression printemps syrien est une pure fiction»

12-12-2011
...

Le Temps d'Algérie : Vous êtes un des rares journalistes à être présent en Syrie et à apporter un témoignage décalé sur la situation sur le terrain. Qui croire, M. Meyssan, et quelles sont, selon vous, les raisons du décalage entre la version dominante sur les événements en Syrie et celle de témoins neutres, dont vous faites partie, dont la voix ne porte pas et semble frappée de soupçons de complaisance, y compris au sein même de la corporation des journalistes ?

Thierry Meyssan : Les Occidentaux dominent l'information. Dans les années 1970, l'Unesco a remis en cause cette domination provoquant la furie des Etats-Unis et du Royaume-Uni. Cette tentative a échoué et, au fil du temps, la situation a empiré : aux agences de presse se sont ajoutées des chaînes satellitaires. Désormais, AP, Reuters, AFP, BBC, CNN, France24, Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabiya ont une telle puissance qu'ils peuvent intoxiquer l'ensemble du public.

Ces médias se citent et se répondent, donnant l'impression fallacieuse d'une information recoupée, confirmée. La situation en Syrie est simple : les puissances occidentales et leurs alliés ont décidé de renverser le gouvernement de Bachar El-Assad et de détruire son pays.

Ils livrent, actuellement, une guerre non-conventionnelle avec des combattants infiltrés qui tentent de provoquer une guerre civile confessionnelle de manière à ouvrir la voie à une intervention militaire conventionnelle. Durant cette période, les Occidentaux montent un dossier juridique contre la Syrie pour légaliser la guerre qu'ils veulent entreprendre. A cette fin, leurs médias inventent une histoire effrayante de révolution et de répression de masse.

Il n'y a aucun rapport entre la fiction développée par les médias impérialistes et la réalité sur le terrain. Ce n'est pas que ces médias ont exagéré des faits, c'est qu'ils les ont inventés.

Comment analysez-vous la situation actuelle de la crise syrienne ? Estimez-vous que les revendications de la population sont d'ordre démocratique où social ?

Il y a en Syrie une opposition intérieure qui milite pour des changements profonds et une alternance démocratique après des décennies de pouvoir du parti Baas. Cette opposition, qui a été réprimée par le passé, participe aujourd'hui au «Dialogue national» : des tables rondes avec le gouvernement qui sont retransmises en direct à la télévision. Les deux parties profitent de la crise pour éliminer l'influence de la vieille garde : pour les leaders de l'opposition comme pour le président El-Assad, c'est le moment des réformes.

Il y a, également, en Syrie un courant takfiriste, très marginal, mais très violent. Il exige que le pays soit gouverné par des sunnites orthodoxes. A l'appel de prédicateurs saoudiens, il entend égorger les «usurpateurs alaouites». Il affirme que, s'il le faut, un tiers des Syriens doit mourir (les chiites, alaouites, druzes, ismaélites, chrétiens…) pour que les deux autres tiers gouvernent sans partage.

Il est probable que s'ils arrivaient au pouvoir après avoir massacré les autres confessions, ils poursuivraient leur épuration en jetant l'anathème sur les autres écoles théologiques sunnites.
Il existe, enfin, une opposition fabriquée à l'étranger et sponsorisée par les Occidentaux pour habiller un «changement de régime». Ces gens ne font pas mystère de leurs ambitions ni de leurs stratégie. Ainsi Abdelhakim Khaddam a déclaré à la presse israélienne qu'il rentrerait en Syrie «sur la tourelle d'un char américain» (sic).

La Ligue arabe a initié une voie de dialogue avec le gouvernement syrien, mais elle a échoué, selon certaines parties, en raison du refus de Damas à appliquer les principes de cette démarche. Quelles sont, selon vous, les raisons qui ont empêché la réussite de la démarche entreprise par la Ligue arabe ?

La Ligue arabe est aux mains de ceux qui la financent : les Etats du Conseil de coopération du Golfe. Elle agit ici comme elle avait commencé à le faire avec la Libye. Elle ouvre la voie à la recolonisation de la région. Si la Ligue arabe avait voulu sincèrement le dialogue, elle n'aurait pas suspendu la Syrie de son organisation avant la fin de la période convenue pour la mise en application des engagements mutuels. La chronologie est indiscutable : ce n'est pas la Syrie qui a rompu le dialogue, c'est la Ligue qui a violé ses propres engagements, puis ses propres statuts.

Quelles seront, d'après vous, les conséquences des sanctions prises par l'Organisation panarabe sur la Syrie. Le peuple syrien sera-t-il touché et à quel degré ?

Ce qui est appelé «sanctions» ne sanctionne rien du tout. C'est un ensemble de mesures pour assiéger la Syrie et l'affaiblir avant de l'attaquer. Elles ne ressortent pas de la diplomatie, mais de l'action militaire préalable.
Les Occidentaux ne peuvent réaliser ce siège seuls.

Ils ont besoin de l'aide des Etats riverains et ils l'ont en partie obtenue. Les mesures de la Ligue arabe s'ajoutent à celles de l'Union européenne et des Etats-Unis. D'ores et déjà, on assiste à un effondrement du niveau de vie, mais à aucune pénurie. En effet, l'import-export est devenu presque impossible avec l'Europe et l'Amérique du Nord, mais la Syrie est autosuffisante en de nombreux domaines, dont l'alimentation. En réponse, la Syrie est en train de créer de nouvelles voies commerciales avec la Chine.

Compte tenu de l'interdiction bancaire, ces échanges ont lieu sous forme de troc. Les besoins des deux pays ne correspondant pas tout à fait, l'Iran joue le rôle de troisième partenaire dans ce troc. Le choc du siège devrait donc être en grande partie amortie dans les prochains mois, seul le tourisme restera sinistré.

Selon vous, pourquoi certains partis d'opposition n'ont pas voulu s'inscrire dans la démarche de réforme entreprise par le gouvernement syrien ? S'agit-il d'un manque de confiance ?

La seule force d'opposition représentative, qui ne milite pas pour une alternance politique, mais pour un «changement de régime»,

ce sont les Frères musulmans. La branche syrienne de la confrérie marche sur les pas de la branche libyenne : dans sa quête du pouvoir, elle a noué une alliance objective avec l'impérialisme. Son programme vise prioritairement à l'établissement d'un régime islamique, tandis qu'elle remet à plus tard la libération du Moyen-Orient, en général, et de la Palestine, en particulier.

Des analystes n'hésitent pas à remettre en cause le «printemps syrien» estimant que le problème syrien, d'ordre interne, est amplifié par des pays connus pour leur volonté de nuire à la stabilité de la Syrie. Quel est votre avis à ce sujet ?

L'expression «printemps syrien» vise à faire croire en l'existence d'un mouvement populaire révolutionnaire. C'est une pure fiction. Il n'y a eu aucune manifestation importante en Syrie contre le «régime». On assiste, par contre, à de petites manifestations de quelques centaines de personnes au cri de «A mort Bachar !». Elles ne sont pas le fait de démocrates, mais de takfiristes. Et elles ne sont pas réprimées.

Les médias étrangers, notamment les chaînes satellitaires, sont accusés par le gouvernement syrien d'être à l'origine de l'amplification de la révolte populaire. Peut-on croire à cette accusation ? Quelle est justement la part de responsabilité des médias dans la crise syrienne ?

Ce n'est pas exactement cela. Le gouvernement n'accuse pas les médias pro-impérialistes de pousser le peuple à la révolte. Il les accuse de mettre une fiction en image. La plupart des vidéos de téléphones cellulaires qui sont diffusées par ces médias sont des images de fiction.

Souvenez-vous que lors de la guerre contre la Libye, j'avais révélé à l'avance qu'Al-Jazeera avait fait construire un studio à ciel ouvert pour reproduire la Place Verte. Lors de la bataille de Tripoli, Al-Jazeera a effectivement diffusé des images de fiction, tournées dans ce studio, pour faire croire que les «rebelles» étaient entrés dans la ville, alors qu'on en était à la phase de bombardements intensifs et que les «rebelles» ne sont arrivés que trois jours plus tard.

Et vous vous souvenez qu'entre les images de propagande d'Al-Jazeera et la chute de la capitale, Seif el-Islam a été acclamé sur cette place par ses partisans qui ne l'avaient jamais quittée.

Dans cette affaire, les médias pro-impérialistes – dont Al-Jazeera – ont acquis un savoir-faire technique pour créer des mensonges. Et ils ne s'en privent pas.

Selon certaines analyses, les deux véritables révolutions dans le monde arabe sont celles de la Tunisie et de l'Egypte. Dans ces deux cas, les pays occidentaux n'ont pas appelé au départ de Ben Ali et de Moubarak, encore moins à l'intervention étrangère. Les communiqués et les déclarations des officiels occidentaux étaient tellement prudents que des médias ont dénoncé, sinon leur complicité, au moins leur attentisme. A ce propos, il y a lieu de rappeler les déclarations de l'ex-ministre française des Affaires étrangères Michel Alliot-Marie de soutien au régime de Ben Ali dans la répression des manifestants, jusqu'à vouloir dépêcher des avions pleins de bombes lacrymogènes et autres moyens de répression. Qu’en pensez-vous ?

Les Etats-Unis souhaitaient se débarrasser de Ben Ali et de Moubarak qui n'étaient plus assez dociles. Ils ont donc créé les conditions de ces révolutions. Mais lorsqu'elles ont eu lieu, ils ont été dépassés par la colère populaire. Ils ont essayé par tous les moyens de la canaliser, mais les événements leur ont échappé.

Le déclencheur profond de ces révolutions, c'est la spéculation sur les denrées alimentaires organisée par Washington dans les années précédentes jusqu'à provoquer des famines localisées dans ces deux pays. A ce moment, tous les commentateurs politiques ont pronostiqué une révolution. Pourtant, tout le monde a été surpris quand cela a eu lieu parce que personne n'avait anticipé la manière dont les gens réagiraient. La CIA a immédiatement envoyé ses équipes de «révolutions colorées» pour reprendre en main la situation, mais tout cela était plaqué, improvisé, et a échoué.

Dans ce contexte, peut-on dire que les révoltes tunisienne et égyptienne, d'essence populaire, ont été exploitées pour renverser le gouvernement libyen et tenter de reproduire le même scénario en Syrie ?

Oui, les médias occidentaux font croire à leurs spectateurs que le monde arabe est un bloc homogène. S'il y a une révolution dans deux pays, il doit y en avoir partout. Ils nous expliquent que les Européens ont eu tort de ne pas soutenir les Tunisiens et les Egyptiens et voulu se rattraper en soutenant les Libyens et les Syriens.

Mais la vérité, c'est qu'ils ont tout fait pour écraser les révoltes en Tunisie et en Egypte dès qu'ils ont vu qu'elles menaçaient leur domination, et qu'ils font tout en Libye et en Syrie pour imposer leur domination

Quel est également le poids de la Russie et de la Chine dans le règlement de la crise syrienne ? Pensez-vous que les deux puissances seront capables de faire face à la pression des pays occidentaux exercée sur le gouvernement syrien, d'autant plus que Moscou s'est dit favorable à la solution proposée par les pays du Golfe au président Saleh du Yémen ?

Les intérêts de la Russie sont directement menacés par l'agression occidentale contre la Syrie. Pas du tout parce que Moscou se sentirait concerné par la lutte contre le sionisme, mais pour deux raisons fondamentales.
Premièrement, Moscou ne dispose que d'une seule base navale en Méditerranée : le port de Tartous. Si la Russie perd cette facilité, elle perd toute liberté dans cette mer et sa flotte de la mer Noire, bloquée derrière les détroits, sera l'otage de la Turquie.

Deuxièmement, si les Occidentaux contrôlent la Syrie, ils y feront passer un gazoduc qui permettra aux Européens d'acheter le gaz du Golfe et d'Asie centrale au lieu du gaz russe. Ce sera l'effondrement de Gazprom et de l'économie russe.

Qu'est-ce qui empêche, selon vous, le président Al Assad d'organiser une élection présidentielle anticipée dans laquelle il sera candidat au même titre que les autres opposants ?

Pour le moment, le pays affronte une guerre non conventionnelle. Des milliers de combattants, principalement étrangers, tentent de le déstabiliser. Ce n'est guère propice à un scrutin démocratique. Le président el-Assad a été élu sous l'emprise de l'ancienne constitution. Je suis certain qu'il remettra son mandat en jeu lors d'une élection présidentielle anticipée ou lors d'un référendum, dès que la situation sera stabilisée.

Quel est justement le poids des figures de l'opposition syrienne ? Sont-elles capables de diriger le pays et de sauvegarder leur indépendance, sachant que la Syrie a été toujours secouée par des tentatives de déstabilisation ?

Il est tout à fait possible que l'opposition syrienne intérieure dispose de leaders capables de diriger le pays et d'assumer une alternance politique, il est trop tôt pour en juger. Par contre, quand ils ont été reçus à Moscou le mois dernier, ces leaders ont d'abord remercié les Russes pour avoir usé de leur veto au Conseil de sécurité et fait échec à la guerre conventionnelle. Ils ont donc fait preuve de leur patriotisme.

Comment analysez-vous également le rôle de la Turquie dans la gestion de ce conflit ?

Pour certains spécialistes, la Turquie est devenue le porte-parole des Etats-Unis d'Amérique dans la région. Les Américains considèrent d'ailleurs le mouvement d'autonomie du Kurdistan comme une organisation terroriste au même titre qu'Ankara...

Une altercation à Davos et quelques phrases à propos de la Flottille de la Liberté ont suffi à faire oublier que la Turquie est membre de l'OTAN. L'élimination du réseau Ergenekon n'a rien changé à la domination en sous-main des Etats-Unis dans ce pays. La preuve : la Turquie vient d'accepter le transfert sur son sol des bases militaires que l'OTAN entretenait en Espagne.

De plus, elle laisse construire sur son sol de nouvelles installations radars dirigées contre l'Iran.
Quand aux organisations kurdes, tout le monde joue avec elles. L'Armée turque garde Öcallan sur une de ses bases et l'agite dès que le pouvoir civil lui tient tête. Des écoutes téléphoniques dans l'affaire Ergenekon ont largement illustré les complicités secrètes entre l'état-major turc et le PKK. Les Israéliens utilisent aussi les Kurdes.

Je vous rappelle par exemple que Netanyahu avait pu donner l'ordre d'attaquer simultanément la Flottille par Tsahal et une base navale turque par le PKK. Ankara n'a toujours pas compris que ses alliés historiques, Washington et Tel-Aviv, ont besoin d'une Turquie solide pour défendre leurs intérêts au Proche-Orient, mais ne veulent pas qu'elle soit forte.

Si on devait mettre en perspective les événements qui secouent le monde arabe et musulman, quelle lecture en faites-vous ? Faut-il penser qu'il y a une stratégie derrière tout cela ? Si tel est le cas, pourquoi ? L'habillage de ces mouvements est qu'il répond à un désir de démocratie. Dans ces conditions, comment expliquez-vous que des pays comme les monarchies du Golfe soient épargnées ?

Où est la liberté ? En Europe avec la bureaucratie bruxelloise anonyme, la pensée unique et le musellement des médias ? Aux Etats-Unis avec le Patriot Act, la torture et Guantanamo ? Non.

Nous sommes sous le joug d'un système de domination globale et les seules révolutions authentiques sont celles qui luttent d'abord pour la souveraineté nationale. La démocratie, telle qu'elle fonctionne aujourd'hui en Occident, n'a plus grand rapport avec le projet des penseurs du XVIIIe siècle. Elle est corrompue par les lobbys et les ingérences de toutes sortes. Elle n'est plus qu'un leurre. L'Occident n'est plus un modèle démocratique et assoie sa domination sur le reste du monde en combattant la démocratie partout où des peuples lui tiennent tête.

Les révolutions en Tunisie et en Egypte ont été des mouvements à la fois sociaux et politiques. Les Tunisiens et les Egyptiens s'en sont d'abord pris aux présidents Ben Ali et Moubarak, mais ils ont parfaitement intégré que ce n'étaient que des fantoches et que rien ne changera tant que les structures de dépendance ne seront pas renversées.

Les monarchies du Golfe sont hétérogènes. Cependant, les plus puissantes tirent exclusivement leur fortune du commerce d'hydrocarbures qu'elles entretiennent avec l'Occident. Elles n'ont donc pas besoin d'être occupées militairement pour être vassalisées, il suffit qu'elles préfèrent le confort à la liberté. Là encore, le système de domination privilégie les gouvernements les plus impopulaires (Arabie saoudite, Bahreïn…) parce qu'ils sont les plus dépendants.

F. B.

cairo: army uses extreme violence against demonstrators (video)

2011-12-18T21:41:00.004Z

.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iboFV-yeTE&&skipcontrinter=1

http://www.rue89.com/2011/12/18/egypte-tahrir-feu-et-sang-pour-les-un-du-printemps-arabe-227621

Image de la répression place Tahir

Texte en préambule : A ceux qui défendent les militaires, aux absents qui pensent que l'armée et le peuple n'ont font qu'un, à Kamal Al Janzouri (Premier ministre) : est-il vrai que tu disais que c'est la plus belle armée de la terre ?

the city of london: plutocracy pure and simple

2011-12-10T09:33:00.001Z

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/oct/31/corporation-london-city-medieval

The medieval, unaccountable Corporation of London is ripe for protest

Working beyond the authority of parliament, the Corporation of London undermines all attempts to curb the excesses of finance

George Monbiot

31 October 2011

It's the dark heart of Britain, the place where democracy goes to die, immensely powerful, equally unaccountable. But I doubt that one in 10 British people has any idea of what the Corporation of the City of London is and how it works. This could be about to change. Alongside the Church of England, the Corporation is seeking to evict the protesters camped outside St Paul's cathedral. The protesters, in turn, have demanded that it submit to national oversight and control.

What is this thing? Ostensibly it's the equivalent of a local council, responsible for a small area of London known as the Square Mile. But, as its website boasts, "among local authorities the City of London is unique". You bet it is. There are 25 electoral wards in the Square Mile. In four of them, the 9,000 people who live within its boundaries are permitted to vote. In the remaining 21, the votes are controlled by corporations, mostly banks and other financial companies. The bigger the business, the bigger the vote: a company with 10 workers gets two votes, the biggest employers, 79. It's not the workers who decide how the votes are cast, but the bosses, who "appoint" the voters. Plutocracy, pure and simple.

There are four layers of elected representatives in the Corporation: common councilmen, aldermen, sheriffs and the Lord Mayor. To qualify for any of these offices, you must be a freeman of the City of London. To become a freeman you must be approved by the aldermen. You're most likely to qualify if you belong to one of the City livery companies: medieval guilds such as the worshipful company of costermongers, cutpurses and safecrackers. To become a sheriff, you must be elected from among the aldermen by the Livery. How do you join a livery company? Don't even ask.

To become Lord Mayor you must first have served as an alderman and sheriff, and you "must command the support of, and have the endorsement of, the Court of Aldermen and the Livery". You should also be stinking rich, as the Lord Mayor is expected to make a "contribution from his/her private resources towards the costs of the mayoral year." This is, in other words, an official old boys' network. Think of all that Tory huffing and puffing about democratic failings within the trade unions. Then think of their resounding silence about democracy within the City of London.

The current Lord Mayor, Michael Bear, came to prominence within the City as chief executive of the Spitalfields development group, which oversaw a controversial business venture in which the Corporation had a major stake, even though the project lies outside the boundaries of its authority. This illustrates another of the Corporation's unique features. It possesses a vast pool of cash, which it can spend as it wishes, without democratic oversight. As well as expanding its enormous property portfolio, it uses this money to lobby on behalf of the banks.

The Lord Mayor's role, the Corporation's website tells us, is to "open doors at the highest levels" for business, in the course of which he "expounds the values of liberalisation". Liberalisation is what bankers call deregulation: the process that caused the financial crash. The Corporation boasts that it "handle[s] issues in Parliament of specific interest to the City", such as banking reform and financial services regulation. It also conducts "extensive partnership work with think tanks … vigorously promoting the views and needs of financial services." But this isn't the half of it.

As Nicholas Shaxson explains in his fascinating book Treasure Islands, the Corporation exists outside many of the laws and democratic controls which govern the rest of the United Kingdom. The City of London is the only part of Britain over which parliament has no authority. In one respect at least the Corporation acts as the superior body: it imposes on the House of Commons a figure called the remembrancer: an official lobbyist who sits behind the Speaker's chair and ensures that, whatever our elected representatives might think, the City's rights and privileges are protected. The mayor of London's mandate stops at the boundaries of the Square Mile. There are, as if in a novel by China Miéville, two cities, one of which must unsee the other.

Several governments have tried to democratise the City of London but all, threatened by its financial might, have failed. As Clement Attlee lamented, "over and over again we have seen that there is in this country another power than that which has its seat at Westminster." The City has exploited this remarkable position to establish itself as a kind of offshore state, a secrecy jurisdiction which controls the network of tax havens housed in the UK's crown dependencies and overseas territories. This autonomous state within our borders is in a position to launder the ill-gotten cash of oligarchs, kleptocrats, gangsters and drug barons. As the French investigating magistrate Eva Joly remarked, it "has never transmitted even the smallest piece of usable evidence to a foreign magistrate". It deprives the United Kingdom and other nations of their rightful tax receipts.

It has also made the effective regulation of global finance almost impossible. Shaxson shows how the absence of proper regulation in London allowed American banks to evade the rules set by their own government. AIG's wild trading might have taken place in the US, but the unit responsible was regulated in the City. Lehman Brothers couldn't get legal approval for its off-balance sheet transactions in Wall Street, so it used a London law firm instead. No wonder priests are resigning over the plans to evict the campers. The Church of England is not just working with Mammon; it's colluding with Babylon.

If you've ever dithered over the question of whether the UK needs a written constitution, dither no longer. Imagine the clauses required to preserve the status of the Corporation. "The City of London will remain outside the authority of parliament. Domestic and foreign banks will be permitted to vote as if they were human beings, and their votes will outnumber those cast by real people. Its elected officials will be chosen from people deemed acceptable by a group of medieval guilds …".

The Corporation's privileges could not withstand such public scrutiny. This, perhaps, is one of the reasons why a written constitution in the United Kingdom remains a distant dream. Its power also helps to explain why regulation of the banks is scarcely better than it was before the crash, why there are no effective curbs on executive pay and bonuses and why successive governments fail to act against the UK's dependent tax havens.

...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/nov/01/city-london-spending-income

City of London spending and income: where does the money come from, and where does it go?

The Occupy protests have focussed attention on the City of London. What do we know about the Square Mile?

Get the data

...

libya control war map september 2011

2011-09-23T02:46:00.002+01:00

.
http://ozyism.blogspot.com/2011/09/80-90-of-libya-under-government-control.html

no moral case for tax havens

2011-09-19T00:46:00.003+01:00

.
http://www.paulvallely.com/?p=4149

There is no moral case for tax havens

August 27
Paul Vallely

There is a building in the Cayman Islands which is home to 12,000 corporations. It must be a very big building. Or a very big tax scam.

Tax havens are in the spotlight since the Chancellor, George Osborne, did a deal the other day with the Swiss authorities to slap a levy on secret bank accounts held there by British citizens. Opinions are divided on the move, which could net the Treasury £5bn, but which tacitly legitimises bank accounts kept secret from the Inland Revenue. It is a de facto amnesty for those guilty of tax evasion crimes. And they will pay less than they would if they declared their income to the British taxman.

Are there any legitimate reasons why anyone would want to have a secret bank account? And pay a premium to maintain their anonymity – or move their money to one of the pink dots on the map which are the final remnants of the British empire: the Caymans, Bermuda, the Turks and Caicos and the British Virgin Islands.

The moral case against is clear enough. Tax havens epitomise unfairness, cheating and injustice. They replace the old morality embodied in the Golden Rule of reciprocity – that we should do as we would be done by – with a new version which insists that those who have the gold make the rules.

The old view, the neo-con American Christopher Caldwell wrote recently, subscribes to a religious understanding of money that was universal in the Christian world before the rise of Protestantism which acknowledges that people are alive but money is not, which makes it wrong for the latter to take precedence over the former. It is a notion as outdated as usury he suggested tartly.

But what is the moral case for tax havens? We can dispense with the argument advanced by their administrators that if they didn’t take the money it would simply move to more distant offshore locations; that is the self-serving logic of a man who sells torture equipment to an oppressive regime. Apologists insist that tax havens protect individual liberty. They promote the accumulation of capital, fair competition between nations, and better tax law elsewhere in the world. They also foster economic growth. So much so, the Institute of Directors has said, that Britain should not curb tax havens but emulate them, promoting the growth of more hedge funds in the UK.

Yet even if all that were true – and it is not – does that outweigh the ethical harm they do? The numbered bank accounts of tax havens are notoriously sanctuaries for the spoils of theft, fraud, bribery, terrorism, drug-dealing, illegal betting, money-laundering and plunder by Arab despots like Gaddafi, Mubarak and Ben Ali, all of whom had Swiss accounts frozen in recent times. The corruption spreads contagion, as the financial writer Nicholas Shaxson showed in his book about offshore finance, Treasure Islands, which exposed secrecy, corruption and intimidation in places as seemingly innocent as that land of milk and money, Jersey in the Channel Islands.

But the moral bankruptcy of the tax haven runs deeper. Indeed it is intrinsic to its purpose. The British Virgin Islands is the global capital for the incorporation of offshore companies. Though it has a population of just 22,000 it has 823,502 registered companies who make vast amounts of money through the wonder of transfer pricing.

It works like this. Suppose I manufacture a product in Africa and sell it in the UK. If I am a canny businessman I set up an intermediate company in a tax haven. It need do nothing except exist on paper. But through it I can buy all the products I make in Africa, dirt cheap, and then sell them, at a much higher cost, to my UK subsidiary. The African and British companies do not, thus, make much profit, so I have little or no tax to pay. All the money stays offshore, where taxes are low or non-existent. This is perfectly legal. But it distorts the world economy and means I pay no tax. I can also borrow where rates are lowest and keep my costs where they are most tax-deductible.

That is why General Electric paid no taxes in 2010, despite its $14.2bn profits. It’s why Barclays Bank, with 181 subsidiaries registered in the Caymans, paid relatively little UK tax on its worldwide profits. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, which has 152 subsidiaries in tax havens according to the US Government, paid no net UK corporation tax between 1988 and 1999.

Half the world’s trade flows through tax havens. Every multinational uses them routinely. So do banks. Almost 70 per cent of international trade now happens within, rather than between, multinationals. Christian Aid reckons that tax dodging costs developing countries at least $160 billion a year – far more than they receive in aid. The US research centre, Integrity, estimated that more than $1.2 trillion drained out of poor countries in illicit flows in 2008 alone.

Tax injustice is systemic to the tax haven. Barack Obama once understood that. During his election campaign he promised to crack down on corporate loopholes and tax havens. But he and other world leaders have not delivered on bursting open the seedy secret underworld of tax havens that nurtured the hedge funds, derivative trading and off-balance sheet lending that fuelled the 2008 global financial crash.

Their malign influence continues, with hedge funds accounting for at least 30 per cent, and perhaps as much as 60 per cent, of current trading on the London and New York exchanges. There they have quintupled short-selling. They have turned credit default swaps, designed as a protective insurance, into a way of betting on the failure of a company. The Caymans (population 50,000) is home to 70 per cent of hedge fund registrations worldwide.

And, as rich people waive their taxes, poor people wave goodbye to their jobs. “The rich are different from you and me,” Scott Fitzgerald famously said. “Yes,” wisecracked Ernest Hemingway in response, “they have more money”. Today the difference is that they pay less in taxes.

The real shame of George Osborne’s half-baked deal with Switzerland is that it has undermined the revised European Union Savings Tax Directive. That would have required an automatic exchange of information on income in bank accounts throughout the EU and in Switzerland, Lichtenstein and Britain’s tax havens. All the EU member states, but two, had approved it. It would have dealt not just with individuals but also with companies, trusts, foundations and other complex structures.

Some say an attack on tax havens is an attack on wealth creation. It is no such thing. It is a demand for the good functioning of capitalism, balancing the demands of efficiency and of justice, and placing a value on social harmony.

The billionaire investor Warren Buffett recognised that in the New York Times when he scathingly asserted the US Congress is in thrall to the super-rich. Thanks to his clever investment managers he pays only 17.4 per cent in tax – just half what his office-workers pay. That is an arrangement which does not just boost inequality. It undermines faith in the fairness and integrity of the international financial system. And that is a political time-bomb.

http://www.comedonchisciotte.org/site/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=8998

NON CI SONO GIUSTIFICAZIONI MORALI PER I PARADISI FISCALI

17 settembre

Nel bel mezzo delle isole Cayman esiste un edificio che è sede di circa 12.000 compagnie. Un edificio molto grande? No, semplicemente una grande truffa.

I paradisi fiscali sono tornati alla ribalta da quando l’attuale Cancelliere dello Scacchiere britannico, George Osborne, ha stipulato un accordo con le autorità svizzere per imporre una tassa sui conti correnti bancari intestati ai cittadini britannici. La mossa ha diviso analisti e osservatori britannici, da un lato la misura permetterà al Tesoro inglese di raccogliere circa 5 miliardi di sterline, dall’altro c’è chi argomenta che in tal modo si è legittimato il sistema bancario svizzero a mantenere il più assoluto segreto sui conti depositati. De facto, la nuova tassa rappresenta un’amnistia per chi si è macchiato di reati legati all’evasione fiscale. Gli evasori vedranno condonato una parte del loro debito nei confronti del fisco e, in conclusione, pagheranno molto meno rispetto a quanto avrebbero dovuto se avessero denunciato i loro redditi al fisco inglese.

Esiste forse una qualche ragione legittima per la quale un contribuente dovrebbe possedere un conto corrente bancario segreto – e pagare un prezzo per mantenere questo status di completo anonimato – o spostare il proprio denaro in uno dei tanti piccoli staterelli-truffa, rimasugli del vecchio Impero Britannico, come le Cayman, Bermuda, Turks e Caicos o le Isole Vergini britanniche?

I paradisi fiscali incrementano ed incentivano la disuguaglianza, l’ingiustizia e la truffa. Hanno sostituito la vecchia moralità che si fondava sulla regola d’oro della reciprocità, con la creazione di una nuova regola: chi ha l’oro fa le regole.

La vecchia visione, come ha recentemente scritto il neo-con americano Christopher Caldwell, era legata ad un’idea del denaro che era universale nel Cristianesimo pre-protestante: le persone vivono, il denaro, invece, no. Tale concezione rendeva molto difficile la possibilità che i soldi prendessero il sopravvento sull’uomo.

Ma a cosa si riferisce la questione morale quando si parla di paradisi fiscali? E’ possibile analizzare il problema attraverso le parole degli amministratori di tali paradisi, i quali rispondono che se non fossero loro a incamerare i soldi, qualcun’altro lo farebbe al posto loro. Una giustificazione simile a quella data da chi vende strumenti di tortura ad un regime dittatoriale. Alcuni analisti affermano, giustificandone la presenza, che i paradisi fiscali proteggono la libertà individuale, promuovendo l’accumulazione del capitale, la giusta competizione tra nazioni e il miglioramento dei sistemi tributari del resto del mondo. Sempre secondo questa linea, essi favoriscono anche la crescita economica. Addirittura, l’Institute of Directors britannico ha affermato che il governo inglese non dovrebbe combattere i paradisi fiscali ma emularli, promuovendo l’incremento di ulteriori hedge funds in Gran Bretagna.

Ma anche se tutte le ragioni a sostegno dei paradisi fiscali fossero vere – e non lo sono – come valutare gli squilibri etici e morali che la loro presenza comporta? I conti correnti bancari cifrati sono notoriamente ricettacolo per crimini come frode, corruzione, furto, terrorismo, scommesse illegali, riciclaggio e saccheggio e vengono spesso utilizzati da despoti arabi: gente come Gheddafi, Mubarak, Ben Ali possiede conti correnti svizzeri.

La diffusione della corruzione, come ha documentato lo scrittore Nicholas Shaxson nel suo libro “Treasure Islands” – Isole del tesoro – riguardante la finanza offshore è una piaga dilagante e fenomeni di segretezza, corruzione e intimidazione siano diffusi in luoghi in cui non ci si aspetterebbe per nulla di trovarli.

Ma la bancarotta morale dei paradisi fiscali è più profonda. Le Isole Vergini Britanniche sono la capitale mondiale della costituzione di società off-shore. Sebbene abbiano una popolazione di appena 22.000 abitanti, esistono ben 823.502 imprese registrate che fanno un sacco di soldi attraverso i cosiddetti prezzi di trasferimento. Un trucco che funziona in questo modo: supponiamo che si produca un prodotto in Africa e si abbia una succursale per la vendita nel Regno Unito. Bene, se io fossi un uomo d’affari “astuto” dovrei creare una società intermedia in un paradiso fiscale: non è necessario che questa società faccia nulla eccetto che esista sulla carta. Attraverso questa società di comodo, sono in grado di acquistare tutti i prodotti che fabbrico in Africa e rivenderli, ad un costo molto maggiore alla mia succursale britannica. Le mie due imprese, quella africana e quella britannica, non possono produrre molto profitto, perciò si hanno poche o nessuna tassa da pagare. Sarà invece la società con sede nel paradiso fiscale a fare soldi, dove cioè le tasse sono irrisorie o addirittura non esistono. Tutto ciò è perfettamente legale, ma è un’evidente distorsione dell’economia mondiale di mercato.

Oggi è possibile inoltre prendere in prestito denaro dove i tassi d’interesse sono inferiori e collocare la sede della mia attività dove i costi sono più deducibili dalle tasse.

Questo è il motivo per il quale la General Electric non ha pagato tasse nel 2010, nonostante profitti per 14,2 miliardi di dollari. Questo è il motivo per il quale Barclays, con 181 succursali registrate alle isole Cayman, ha pagato solo una minima parte delle imposte al fisco britannico sui suoi profitti mondiali. Questo è il motivo per cui la New Corp di Rupert Murdoch, con 152 succursali, stime del governo americano, nei paradisi fiscali non ha pagato l’imposta sulle società del Regno Unito tra il 1988 e il 1999.

Circa la metà dei flussi del commercio mondiale passano attraverso paradisi fiscali. Ogni multinazionale così come le banche li utilizza spesso. Circa il 70% del commercio internazionale non avviene fra multinazionali ma all’interno di multinazionali. Il Christian Aid calcola che i costi complessivi causati dell’evasione fiscale nei paesi in via di sviluppo sono di circa 160 miliardi all’anno – molto più di quanto ricevono in aiuto.- Il centro di ricerca statunitense Integrity ha inoltre stimato che nel solo 2008 sono stati sottratti illecitamente ai paesi poveri 1,2 trilioni di dollari.

L’ingiusto sistema di tassazione è funzionale ai paradisi fiscali. Barack Obama l’aveva capito. Durante la sua campagna elettorale promise un giro di vite contro l’evasione e l’elusione, reprimendo il ricordo ai paradisi fiscali. Ma lui e gli altri leader mondiali non hanno dato seguito alle promesse. Anzi, si è assistito alla progressiva escalation dei peggiori strumenti finanziari come hedge funds e commercio di derivati che sono stati la vera benzina nel motore della crisi finanziaria 2008.

L’influenza maligna di questi prodotti finanziari non si è ancora placata, con gli hedge funds che rappresentano almeno il 30%, ma forse addirittura il 60%, degli attuali scambi nelle borse di Londra e New York; le vendite allo scoperto si sono quintuplicate. E i credit default swaps, progettati in principio come assicurazioni, sono diventati lo strumento per scommettere sul fallimento di società. Le Cayman (popolazione di 50.000 abitanti) è sede della registrazione del 70% degli hedge-funds in tutto il mondo.

Così, mentre i ricchi vedono le loro tasse abbonate, i poveri vedono il loro posto di lavoro sempre più vacillante. “I ricchi sono diversi da me e te” disse Scott Fitzgerald in una sua famosa frase. “Si”, ribatté Ernest Hemingway con una forte velatura di ironia, “hanno più soldi”, frase che riprodotta oggi sarebbe “si, pagano meno tasse”.

La vera vergogna dell’accordo quasi concluso tra Gran Bretagna e Svizzera è che si compromette la direttiva europea “saving tax”. La quale prevedeva uno scambio diretto di informazioni sui conti correnti bancari tra Unione Europea e Svizzera, Lichtenstein e paradisi fiscali britannici. Tutti gli stati europei, tranne due, hanno votato per la sua entrata in vigore, essa avrebbe coinvolto non solo gli individui ma anche società, trust, fondazioni e altre strutture complesse.

Alcuni affermano che un attacco ai paradisi fiscali è un attacco alla creazione del benessere stesso. Non è così. E’ semplicemente domanda di un capitalismo che funzioni e di un miglior bilanciamento verso le esigenze di efficienza e di giustizia.

Anche l’investitore miliardario Warren Buffett lo ha riconosciuto. Sul New York Times, ha infatti sarcasticamente affermato che il Congresso americano è in balia dei super-ricchi. Egli infatti, grazie ai suoi scaltri manager, paga solo il 17,4% del proprio reddito in tasse – la metà di quello che pagano gli impiegati delle sue aziende. Tale sistema non solo aumenta le disuguaglianze ma mina alle fondamenta la fiducia nella giustizia e nell’integrità del sistema finanziario internazionale: una potenziale bomba ad orologeria per la politica.

japan: radioactive contamination map μsv/h

2011-07-01T00:08:00.019+01:00

.
http://www.nnistar.com/gmap/fukushima.html

http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/intelligent-energy/elevated-radiation-levels-widespread-in-eastern-japan/7160

click here for a fully updated detailed map

see:

Japan prefecture radiation data Gy/h

radioactivity: dosimetry + fukushima links

http://www.thepaltrysapien.com/2011/06/fukushima-update-crowd-sourcing-the-apocalypse/

Matthew Payne
June 18, 2011

...

Japanese environmental activists and regular citizens have been measuring the radiation exposure of their locales and reporting them through social media to be published on the web. This citizen-science, which has been denounced as potentially inducing “fear-mongering,” has, in fact, been pretty rigorous. It is also providing us with a view of the accident’s effects not provided by those institutions that are alleged to be looking out for the public’s welfare (such as the government and TEPC0). The fretting of the nuclear engineers and scientists is a significant caution to the enterprise, but at least some of these scientists seem to be forgetting science’s own roots in such a milieu. Indeed, it was the democratic, amateur and publicist collection of “correspondents” to the enlightenment “Republic of Letters,” not the governmental academies of science or hierarchical universities that really cemented the intellectual hegemony of science in the West by providing it not only data, but also a discerning public.

What does this crowd-sourcing indicate? In the below map, put together by a independent scientists using citizen volunteers (h/t FishOutofWater at DailyKos), the color scheme essentially breaks down to blue being of concern (0.1 microsieverts per hour) with red being very, very dangerous (fifty times acceptable exposures at 5.0 microsieverts per hour). Essentially any color not dark blue is very concerning, especially for small children.

...

related posts:

May

April

March

france, legalisation cannabis: 36% favorable

2011-06-28T12:12:00.006+01:00

.
http://www.francesoir.fr/actualite/societe/depenalisation-du-cannabis-francais-majoritairement-contre-111129.html

Débat sur la légalisation du cannabis

Dépénalisation du cannabis : Les Français majoritairement contre

Selon un sondage Ifop réalisé pour Sud-Ouest Dimanche, 63% des Français ne souhaitent pas que les drogues dites douces soient dépénalisées.

le 18 juin 2011

Alors que le député (PS) Daniel Vaillant a relancé le débat portant sur la dépénalisation du cannabis, un sondage Ifop pour Sud-Ouest Dimanche révèle que 63% des Français sont contre. En revanche, ils sont 36% à se prononcer plutôt favorablement à l’adoption de ce projet de loi. Les résultats de l’enquête mettent par ailleurs en évidence « trois lignes de clivage ». Le journal rapporte ainsi que si « les moins de 35 ans seraient aujourd’hui majoritairement favorables à une dépénalisation du cannabis (51% pour, 49% contre) », les « sympathisants de gauche » le sont beaucoup plus (48%) que ceux de droite (20% à l’UMP, 28% au FN). Les hommes sont, quant à eux, 40% à être pour la dépénalisation des drogues douces. Seulement 30% des femmes partagent cet avis.

Le débat

L'ancien premier flic du PS, Daniel vaillant, a rouvert le débat sur la légalisation du cannabis mercredi. Ministre de l'Intérieur sous le gouvernement Jospin, il est aujourd'hui redevenu député de Paris. Huit ans après sa déclaration fracassante dans un entretien à Libération, où il estimait que « la police avait mieux à faire que de courir après la fumette », il revient avec un rapport qui préconise la « légalisation contrôlée » du cannabis. Mais sa proposition ne fait pas l'unanimité, même au sein du PS. Pour preuve, elle ne sera même pas inscrite dans un contrat de gouvernement du PS en vue de 2012. Mais elle devrait seulement servir à un point de départ pour un grand débat public après la présidentielle.

http://www.francesoir.fr/actualite/politique/cannabis-divise-familles-111051.html

Le cannabis divise les familles

Daniel Vaillant, ministre de l’Intérieur de Lionel Jospin, prône la dépénalisation du cannabis. Cette mesure, traditionnellement portée par les écologistes, fait hurler la droite, et divise la gauche.

C’est un débat récurrent. Mené dès 2002 par Noël Mamère, alors candidat des Verts à l’élection présidentielle, il a rebondi cette semaine par la voix du député de Paris Daniel Vaillant, qui ne passe pas pour un « laxiste ». Dans un rapport remis mercredi au PS, le ministre de l’Intérieur de Lionel Jospin (2000-2002) estime qu’il est temps de « sortir de l’hypocrisie », et préconise « la légalisation contrôlée du cannabis ». « Il ne s’agit plus de prôner une abstinence illusoire mais de modérer la consommation des Français », explique-t-il. Parmi les mesures envisagées : « la reconnaissance rapide de l’usage thérapeutique du cannabis », la création d’une « filière nationale du cannabis inspirée de celle du tabac », une « production sous contrôle » ainsi qu’un « système de distribution sécurisé » calqué sur ceux de l’alcool et du tabac.

La direction du PS, visiblement embarrassée, a aussitôt botté en touche. « C’est un sujet trop sérieux pour que l’on prenne des positions tranchées », commente Martine Aubry, appelant à un « grand débat » en 2012. Si la gauche revient au pouvoir, « elle organisera une commission de consensus pour essayer de dégager des solutions », confirme Jean-Marc Ayrault, président du groupe PS à l’Assemblée nationale. Pas question, donc, d’en faire un thème de campagne présidentielle. En coulisse, on assure que si la société française est « mûre » pour le mariage homosexuel, elle demeure farouchement opposée à la dépénalisation des drogues douces.

Ce combat-là est incarné à gauche par Jean-Pierre Chevènement. Prédécesseur de Vaillant au ministère de l’Intérieur (1997-2000), le président du Mouvement républicain et citoyen rappelle que « ce débat a déjà eu lieu à l’intérieur du gouvernement de la gauche plurielle : il opposait Bernard Kouchner, ministre de la Santé, et moi-même, qui y ai toujours été hostile ». Depuis, Manuel Valls a repris le flambeau. Le maire d’Evry (Essonne), chef de file des « sécuritaires » au PS, proteste contre le rapport Vaillant. « Quand on est de gauche, épris de liberté, on ne peut pas accepter l’idée de légaliser quelque chose qui crée de la dépendance, dit-il. Cela irait contre mes valeurs. » Moins virulente mais tout aussi ferme, Ségolène Royal se déclare « pas favorable à la libéralisation du cannabis tant qu’on n’a pas prouvé qu’on a mis tous les moyens pour démanteler les réseaux ».

Villepin et Le Maire pas d’accord

Cette position, commune à tous les candidats à la primaire socialiste, est un deuxième point de clivage avec les écologistes, après la question du nucléaire. La direction du PS, qui a ouvert les négociations jeudi en vue d’un accord électoral pour 2012, n’a pas encore abordé le problème. Mais Nicolas Hulot, Eva Joly et Cécile Duflot ont d’ores et déjà fait savoir qu’ils étaient partisans d’une révision de la réglementation sur les drogues douces. « Une politique pragmatique, c’est une politique de légalisation », affirme la patronne d’Europe Ecologie-Les Verts, totalement d’accord avec le rapport Vaillant.

Ce dernier a d’ailleurs reçu un soutien étonnant. Alors que l’UMP (puisque quelques rares voix, telle celle de Maurice Leroy, se font entendre en sens inverse au centre) fait corps pour pourfendre le « projet Vaillant », Dominique de Villepin se démarque – une nouvelle fois – et propose, lui aussi, une dépénalisation du cannabis, qu’il souhaiterait voir sanctionner d’une simple « contravention ». « La contravention, c’est un message suffisant mais nécessaire, parce que la consommation de cannabis reste dangereuse », détaille l’ancien Premier ministre. Son ancien directeur de cabinet à Matignon, Bruno Le Maire, aujourd’hui ministre de l’Agriculture, ne cache pas son étonnement : « Il me surprend. En tout cas, moi je dis catégoriquement non à cette idée de “dépénalisation”, qui serait une véritable “abdication politique”. »

http://www.radicali.it/rassegna-stampa/piccoli-spacciatori-anche-loro-nellamnistia

«Piccoli spacciatori, anche loro nell'amnistia»

Franco Corleone
Il Manifesto
28/06/11

Sono passati cinque anni dall'approvazione della legge 49/2006 che con un colpo di mano di dubbia legittimità costituzionale (non bloccato dal Quirinale) portò indietro le lancette dell'orologio cancellando l'esito del referendum del 1993, cioè la depenalizzazione della detenzione di stupefacenti per uso personale. Per di più la nuova legge introdusse la tabella unica delle sostanze e la parificazione delle pene per tutte le droghe, leggere e pesanti: con la previsione di pesanti sanzioni (da sei a venti anni di carcere), l'aggravamento delle sanzioni amministrative per l'uso personale e una funesta commistione tra pena e cura.

Il fallimento della svolta ideologica e salvifica è testimoniato dai fatti: calano i sequestri di sostanze, cresce il numero delle persone segnalate all'autorità giudiziaria, aumenta il numero delle sanzioni amministrative, aumenta la percentuale dei tossicodipendenti in carcere sul totale dei detenuti, aumenta la percentuale dei tossicodipendenti sul totale degli ingressi; soprattutto aumenta in maniera esponenziale il numero dei ristretti per violazione dell'art. 73 (raddoppiano dal 2006 al 2010). Anche l'idea spesso propagandata da Giovanardi, secondo cui la recrudescenza penale sarebbe stata compensata dalla facilitazione delle alternative al carcere, si è dimostrata fallace tanto è vero che gli affidamenti continuano ad essere inferiori nel 2010 a quelli del 2006. Il quadro diventa ancora più allarmante se si considera l'esplosione del numero delle pendenze giudiziarie, la diminuzione degli interventi sociosanitari e delle presenze in comunità, le difficoltà in cui versano i servizi di riduzione del danno.

C'è un altro elemento da considerare. In Italia, la valutazione delle politiche sulle droghe non è certo incoraggiata. Negli ultimi anni la Relazione annuale è sempre più povera dì dati sensibili soprattutto sulle conseguenze penali e sulle presenze in carcere rendendo difficile una analisi del fenomeno. Per di più, alcuni dati forniti sui consumi e in generale la metodologia usata per calcolare la prevalenza dei consumi sono di dubbia validità.

L'anno scorso la Relazione ha fatto discutere per l'annuncio clamoroso di un crollo del 25% dei consumi life time di cannabis suscitando incredulità nella comunità scientifica. Per questo vanno superate le criticità del rapporto annuale per alcune proposte per consentire al Parlamento di approfondire gli elementi per una valutazione della legislazione esistente.

Grave si presenta quindi la scelta, di pura ispirazione ideologica, di contestare la politica di riduzione del danno non solo nella pratica quotidiana, ma addirittura in sede internazionale facendo assumere all'Italia il ruolo più arretrato nelle politiche sulle droghe. Questa scelta anti pragmatica comporta un processo di riduzione crescente delle risorse destinate all'inclusione sociale e un maggiore ricorso al carcere.

Il sovraffollamento nelle carceri ha raggiunto la cifra record di 68.000 detenuti e la metà di essi sono tossicodipendenti o consumatori o piccoli spacciatori. Questi dati rappresentano una vergogna non più tollerabile: da anni ormai chiediamo misure straordinarie per liberare le carceri da persone che non dovrebbero essere recluse in spazi angusti e fatiscenti dove la rieducazione e il reinserimento non sono neppure un mito, ma aspirazioni grottesche.

Marco Pannella ha chiesto drammaticamente un provvedimento di amnistia: è evidente che dovrebbe prevedere i reati previsti dall'art. 73 della legge antidroga. Alfano è d'accordo?

gheddafi: elezioni subito, puo candidarsi bhl

2011-06-16T14:56:00.005+01:00

.
http://www.corriere.it/esteri/11_giugno_15/cremonesi-intervista-figlio-gheddafi_d373b458-9791-11e0-83e2-2963559124a0.shtml

Saif Gheddafi : «Subito elezioni
E' l'unico modo indolore per uscirne»

Il figlio del Rais: «Ricucire con l'Italia? No, finchè ci sarà Berlusconi, lui e Frattini ci hanno tradito»

LORENZO CREMONESI
15 giugno 2011

TRIPOLI - «Elezioni, subito e con la supervisione internazionale. E’ l’unico modo indolore per uscire dall’impasse in Libia»: il momento più interessante dell’intervista l’altra sera nel cuore della capitale arriva a 14 minuti dal suo inizio. Sino a quel momento Saif al-Islam aveva ribadito le dichiarazioni già rilasciate alla stampa in passato e sbandierate in ogni occasione dalla propaganda della dittatura. «I ribelli agli ordini dei terroristi di Bengasi sono banditi, uomini di Al Qaeda, criminali. I loro capi sono traditori, che sino allo scoppio del caos il 17 febbraio erano legati a filo doppio a mio padre. Se non ci fosse l’ombrello Nato sarebbero stati sconfitti da un pezzo», afferma quasi meccanicamente. Ma è quando gli si chiede come pensa di uscire dall’impasse militare e dalla minaccia di violenze anche peggiori che lui avanza la formula di compromesso. «Andiamo alle urne. E vinca il migliore». Un messaggio nuovo di apertura alla comunità internazionale da parte del più politico tra i figli del Colonnello.

...

Usciamo dal tunnel delle accuse reciproche. Lei sostiene che i ribelli vanno perseguitati come traditori. E loro replicano che tutta la vostra famiglia va processata, al meglio espulsa all’estero. La Nato sta dalla loro parte, godono di un crescente sostegno internazionale. Gheddafi è sempre più isolato, deve andarsene. Dove il compromesso?
«Elezioni. Si potrebbero tenere entro tre mesi. Al massimo a fine anno. E la garanzia della loro trasparenza potrebbe essere la presenza di osservatori internazionali. Non ci formalizziamo su quali. Accettiamo l’Unione Europea, l’Unione Africana, l’Onu, la stessa Nato. L’importante è che lo scrutinio sia pulito, non ci siano sospetti di brogli. E allora tutto il mondo scoprirà quanto Gheddafi è ancora popolare nel suo Paese. Non ho alcun dubbio: la stragrande maggioranza dei libici sta con mio padre e vede i ribelli come fanatici integralisti islamici, terroristi sobillati dall’estero, mercenari agli ordini di Sarkozi. Alla nostra gente non sfugge che lo stesso presidente del governo fantoccio a Bengasi, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, come del resto il loro responsabile militare, Abdel Fatah Younes, sono, al pari di tanti altri, uomini della vecchia nomenclatura, gente che è saltata sul carro delle rivolte all’ultimo minuto, miserabili profittatori, venduti. Erano ministri con Gheddafi e ora vogliono giocare la parte dei leader contro di lui. Ridicoli. Non li temiamo affatto. Sono fantocci di Parigi. Marionette incapaci di stare in piedi da sole».

I ribelli temono di essere assassinati, perseguitati, come del resto è avvenuto in 42 anni di dittatura a tanti membri dell’opposizione. Cosa offre per garantire la loro incolumità?
«Sono loro che hanno paura, non noi. Li conosco bene, uno a uno, sono stati con me nelle università straniere. Hanno goduto del mio programma di liberalizzazione negli ultimi dieci anni, di cui, si badi bene, non mi pento affatto. Il nostro rapporto è come quello tra il serpente e il topo che vorrebbero convivere nella stessa tana. Ci considerano il serpente. La soluzione? Dobbiamo essere tutti eguali: tutti serpenti, o tutti topi. E la via è quella delle urne».

Ma come li garantisce?
«Occorre pensarci. Dovremo cercare di mettere in piedi un meccanismo per garantirli. Nel periodo prima del voto si dovrà comunque elaborare la nuova costituzione e un sistema di media completamente libero. Credo in una Libia del futuro composta da forti autonomie locali e un debole governo federale a Tripoli. Il modello potrebbero essere gli Stati Uniti, la Nuova Zelanda o l’Australia. In questi ultimi mesi ho maturato una convinzione profonda: la Libia pre-17 febbraio non esiste più. Qualsiasi cosa accada, inclusa la sconfitta militare o politica dei ribelli, non si potrà tornare indietro. Il regime di mio padre così come si è sviluppato dal 1969 è morto e sepolto. Gheddafi è stato superato dagli avvenimenti, ma così anche Jalil. Occorre costruire qualche cosa di completamente nuovo».

E se le elezioni le vincono i dirigenti di Bengasi?
«Bravi. Tanto di cappello. Noi ci faremo da parte. Sono però certo della nostra vittoria. Sui poco più di cinque milioni di libici, almeno i due milioni residenti a Tripoli stanno con noi e anche a Bengasi godiamo della maggioranza. Semplicemente laggiù la gente non può parlare per paura di rappresaglie. Comunque, se dovessimo perdere, ovvio che lasceremo il governo. Rispettiamo le regole. Non mi opporrei neppure se venisse democraticamente eletto nostro premier l’intellettuale ebreo-francese Bernard-Henri Levy» (sorride per la battuta).

La pensa così anche suo padre dopo 42 anni di regime?
«Certo».

E, in quel caso, Gheddafi sarebbe pronto all’esilio?
«No. Non c’è motivo. Perché mai? Questo è il nostro Paese. Mio padre continua a ripeterlo. Non se ne andrà mai dalla Libia. Qui è nato e qui intende morire ed essere sepolto, accanto ai suoi cari».

A quel punto non sareste però voi a rischio di vendette? Andrete a cercare protezione tra qualche tribù fedele nel deserto?
«Staremo a Tripoli, a casa nostra. Nessuno di noi scappa. Sappiamo come difenderci».

L’Italia potrebbe avere un ruolo in questo processo di ricostruzione democratica?
«Non ora. Non sino a quando ci sarà Berlusconi al governo. Da quello che possiamo capire qui a Tripoli, il vostro premier è in difficoltà, pare inevitabile la sua prossima sconfitta elettorale. Bene. Non possiamo che gioirne. Lui e il ministro degli Esteri Frattini si sono comportati in modo abominevole con noi. Sino a tre mesi prima lo scoppio della ribellione venivano a inchinarsi e baciavano le mani a Gheddafi. Salvo poi voltare la schiena e passare armi e bagagli tra le file dei nostri nemici alla prima difficoltà. Vergogna!».

Che sarà dei contratti con l’Eni? Italia e Libia hanno una lunga storia di rapporti economici che va ben oltre i governi Berlusconi.
«Ovvio, e infatti separiamo nettamente la figura di Berlusconi dall’Italia. Apprezziamo le critiche alla guerra e contro la Nato avanzate dalle Lega. Guardiamo con interesse ai vostri partiti della sinistra. La Libia terrà un atteggiamento assolutamente diverso nei confronti di un’Italia senza Berlusconi».

E il petrolio?
«Non so. E’ prematuro parlarne. Per ora dobbiamo porre fine alla guerra, imporre la legge e l’ordine in tutto il Paese. Ma voglio essere franco. Da tempo Mosca guarda con interesse ai pozzi e alle infrastrutture Eni in Libia. Forse, ora i russi hanno una carta in più».

Pure, anche Mosca ultimamente ha perorato la causa dell’esilio di Gheddafi. Non la penalizzate?
«Lo so. Ma con Berlusconi è diverso. Si diceva vero amico di Gheddafi. Il suo tradimento brucia di più».

E allora, quale tra i governi stranieri potrebbe meglio aiutare la transizione verso il voto in Libia e nel contempo mediare con la Nato?
»La Francia. Abbiamo già avuto abboccamenti con Parigi, ma per ora senza seguito. Comunque, sono loro che impongono la politica del governo di Bengasi. E’ stato Sarkozy a volere più di tutti l’intervento Nato. Dunque a loro il compito di cercare una via d’uscita il meno cruenta possibile».

...

declassify interpretation of patriot act says senator

2011-06-06T01:37:00.008+01:00

.
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/05/secret-patriot-act/

There’s a Secret Patriot Act, Senator Says

Senator Ron Wyden
(Liz Lynch)

Spencer Ackerman
May 25, 2011

You think you understand how the Patriot Act allows the government to spy on its citizens. Sen. Ron Wyden says it’s worse than you know.

Congress is set to reauthorize three controversial provisions of the surveillance law as early as Thursday. Wyden (D-Oregon) says that powers they grant the government on their face, the government applies a far broader legal interpretation — an interpretation that the government has conveniently classified, so it cannot be publicly assessed or challenged. But one prominent Patriot-watcher asserts that the secret interpretation empowers the government to deploy ”dragnets” for massive amounts of information on private citizens; the government portrays its data-collection efforts much differently.

“We’re getting to a gap between what the public thinks the law says and what the American government secretly thinks the law says,” Wyden told Danger Room in an interview in his Senate office. “When you’ve got that kind of a gap, you’re going to have a problem on your hands.”

What exactly does Wyden mean by that? As a member of the intelligence committee, he laments that he can’t precisely explain without disclosing classified information. But one component of the Patriot Act in particular gives him immense pause: the so-called “business-records provision,” which empowers the FBI to get businesses, medical offices, banks and other organizations to turn over any “tangible things” it deems relevant to a security investigation.

“It is fair to say that the business-records provision is a part of the Patriot Act that I am extremely interested in reforming,” Wyden says. “I know a fair amount about how it’s interpreted, and I am going to keep pushing, as I have, to get more information about how the Patriot Act is being interpreted declassified. I think the public has a right to public debate about it.”

That’s why Wyden and his colleague Sen. Mark Udall offered an amendment on Tuesday to the Patriot Act reauthorization.

The amendment, first reported by Marcy Wheeler, blasts the administration for “secretly reinterpret[ing] public laws and statutes.” It would compel the Attorney General to “publicly disclose the United States Government’s official interpretation of the USA Patriot Act.” And, intriguingly, it refers to “intelligence-collection authorities” embedded in the Patriot Act that the administration briefed the Senate about in February.

Wyden says he “can’t answer” any specific questions about how the government thinks it can use the Patriot Act. That would risk revealing classified information — something Wyden considers an abuse of government secrecy. He believes the techniques themselves should stay secret, but the rationale for using their legal use under Patriot ought to be disclosed.

“I draw a sharp line between the secret interpretation of the law, which I believe is a growing problem, and protecting operations and methods in the intelligence area, which have to be protected,” he says.

Surveillance under the business-records provisions has recently spiked. The Justice Department’s official disclosure on its use of the Patriot Act, delivered to Congress in April, reported that the government asked the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for approval to collect business records 96 times in 2010 — up from just 21 requests the year before. The court didn’t reject a single request. But it “modified” those requests 43 times, indicating to some Patriot-watchers that a broadening of the provision is underway.

“The FISA Court is a pretty permissive body, so that suggests something novel or particularly aggressive, not just in volume, but in the nature of the request,” says Michelle Richardson, the ACLU’s resident Patriot Act lobbyist. “No one has tipped their hand on this in the slightest. But we’ve come to the conclusion that this is some kind of bulk collection. It wouldn’t be surprising to me if it’s some kind of internet or communication-records dragnet.” (Full disclosure: My fiancée works for the ACLU.)

The FBI deferred comment on any secret interpretation of the Patriot Act to the Justice Department. The Justice Department said it wouldn’t have any comment beyond a bit of March congressional testimony from its top national security official, Todd Hinnen, who presented the type of material collected as far more individualized and specific: “driver’s license records, hotel records, car-rental records, apartment-leasing records, credit card records, and the like.”

But that’s not what Udall sees. He warned in a Tuesday statement about the government’s “unfettered” access to bulk citizen data, like “a cellphone company’s phone records.” In a Senate floor speech on Tuesday, Udall urged Congress to restrict the Patriot Act’s business-records seizures to “terrorism investigations” — something the ostensible counterterrorism measure has never required in its nearly 10-year existence.

Indeed, Hinnen allowed himself an out in his March testimony, saying that the business-record provision “also” enabled “important and highly sensitive intelligence-collection operations” to take place. Wheeler speculates those operations include “using geolocation data from cellphones to collect information on the whereabouts of Americans” — something our sister blog Threat Level has reported on extensively.

It’s worth noting that Wyden is pushing a bill providing greater privacy protections for geolocation info.

For now, Wyden’s considering his options ahead of the Patriot Act vote on Thursday. He wants to compel as much disclosure as he can on the secret interpretation, arguing that a shadow broadening of the Patriot Act sets a dangerous precedent.

“I’m talking about instances where the government is relying on secret interpretations of what the law says without telling the public what those interpretations are,” Wyden says, “and the reliance on secret interpretations of the law is growing.”

pedophilie: hubert vedrine, ministre francais

2011-06-02T23:41:00.006+01:00

.
http://www.voltairenet.org/article7502.html

1/06/1997
...

Plusieurs affaires de pédophilie ont marqué les annales judiciaires française au cours des quinze dernières années. Le nom de Michel Caignet apparaît, à un titre ou un autre, dans toutes celles qui mettent en jeu des bandes organisées. Ce n’est pourtant qu’en 1996 qu’il a été appréhendé dans le cadre de " l’affaire Toro Bravo " et placé en détention provisoire à Fleury Mérogis.

À partir de 1989, j’ai régulièrement et vainement saisi le Parquet et le ministre de l’Intérieur des agissements de cette organisation de malfaiteurs. Paul Quilès étant ministre de l’Intérieur, un membre de son cabinet m’a indiqué de vive voix que Michel Caignet ne serait pas inquiété, ni pour ses activités néo-nazies, ni pour ses activités pédophiles, car il savait " rendre des services ". Devant mon obstination et celle de mes amis, Michel Caignet intenta une campagne de presse et diverses machination contre moi. Il fut en définitive condamné en diffamation à la suite d’une action intentée par mon avocat, Maître Antoine Comte.

Toujours à la recherche de photographies et de vidéos pornographiques de mineurs, Michel Caignet entra en contact avec le père Nicolas Glencross, qui lui faisait passer sa production par l’entremise du pasteur Joseph Doucé et peut-être aussi de l’abbé Maurice Balland. En 1990, le père Glencross fut arrêté et la police découvrit que son presbytère avait été transformé en studio de photographie. On saisit chez lui la plus importante collection de pornographie infantile connue en Europe, entre vingt et trente mille clichés qu’il avait réalisé. Un mois après, le pasteur Doucé disparut mystérieusement. Par aveuglement communautariste, les associations gays prirent la défense posthume de ce personnage, ignorant aussi bien son activité pédophile que sa collaboration à divers mouvements d’extrême droite en Europe, dont le MSI-DN en Italie. Il s’avéra qu’une section des Renseignements généraux espionnait illégalement le pasteur et se livrait à diverses manipulations. Le garde des Sceaux, Pierre Arpaillange, et le Pdg de la télévision publique, Philippe Guilhaume, furent contraints de démissionner, tandis que le ministre de l’Intérieur, Pierre Joxe, était transféré à la Défense. Parmi les anomalies de l’enquête, il apparut qu’un autre service d’État écoutait une autre ligne téléphonique du pasteur Doucé. Par déduction, il s’agit vraisemblablement d’une écoute illicite du cabinet noir de l’Élysée. Quant à lui, le père Glencross décéda opportunément d’une crise cardiaque peu après sa sortie de détention préventive. Nul ne fit le lien entre les deux affaires jusqu’à ce que Bernard Violet publie une enquête à ce sujet, intitulée Mort d’un pasteur. Il révéla également que le presbytère du père Glencross à Saint-Léger-des-Vignes (Nièvre) servait de domiciliation à Hubert Vedrine, porte-parole de l’Élysée.

Un lourd secret mine la vie politique française depuis une quinzaine d’années. Il tourne autour de réunions sexuelles avec mineurs qui, selon nos informations, se seraient déroulées à Saint-Père, une petite commune de la Nièvre. Certains hommes politiques connus y auraient côtoyé des leaders d’extrême droite, chacun se protégeant mutuellement avant de se faire chanter. Les homosexuels qui, selon leurs affinités politiques, ont cru bénéficier de la sollicitude de quelques personnalités mitterrandiennes ou de cercles nationalistes n’ont été que des pions dans une partie d’échec qui les dépassait. Le procès de Michel Caignet et de soixante et onze de ses complices, qui s’ouvrira le 16 juin 1997 à Paris, ne devrait pas éclairer cette scène : les prévenus ne sont poursuivis que pour recel et trafic de cassettes pornographiques.

Thierry Meyssan

"Combat face au sida", numéro 8, avril-mai-juin 1997

L’infiltration néofasciste et néonazie dans la minorité gay

Hubert Védrine

Ancien porte-parole de François Mitterrand (1988-1991) puis secrétaire général de l’Élysée (1991-1995), Hubert Védrine est ancien ministre des Affaires étrangères français (1997-2002). Il est président de l’Institut François Mitterrand.

http://dignitehumaine.ifrance.com/divers/reseaux/ado71.htm

Le réseau pédocriminel "Ado 71"

Le 10 mai 2000, le TGI de Mâcon a condamné Bernard Alapetite à trois ans de prison ferme pour diffusion de matériel pornographique mettant en scène des mineurs. Cinquante et un de ses clients ont été condamnés à des peines de deux à six mois de prison avec sursis pour " recel d'objets détenus à l'aide de corruption de mineurs ". Une dizaine d'autres prévenus ont été relaxés.

[En 1991, l'association Projet Ornicar, avait saisi le procureur de la République de Paris et le ministre de l'Intérieur des agissements d'un réseau d'exploitation sexuelle des mineurs actif en France, Belgique, Portugal, et dans certains pays de l'Est. En 1993, elle avait publié une plaquette, " L'Infiltration néofasciste et néonazie dans la minorité gay " (cf. http://www.reseauvoltaire.net/fr7dossiers.htm) donnant les biographies des principaux responsables. Mais ce n'est qu'en 1998 que des instructions judiciaires étaient ouvertes et les responsables progressivement condamnés.

On ne peut que s'interroger sur les lenteurs de la justice, l'obstination des associations catholiques à agiter de fausses pistes, l'implication de tous les dirigeants de ces réseaux dans une organisation néo-nazie protégée par les services de l'OTAN. On peut aussi s'interroger sur l'absence d'audition par la justice d'Hubert Védrine, au domicile duquel fut découvert le plus important studio de pornographie infantile jamais trouvé en Europe, et sur la non-résolution de l'instruction pour enlèvement et assassinat du pasteur Joseph Doucé qui assurait la liaison entre le colocataire d'Hubert Védrine et le réseau criminel.]

source Réseau voltaire

Ado 71 : prison ferme et sursis pour les protagonistes

Le tribunal correctionnel de Mâcon a rendu hier son jugement concernant le trafic de cassettes pédophiles saisies en 1997 dans le cadre de l’opération Ado 71. Après dix-huit mois d’enquête, les gendarmes avaient effectué à l’époque, un vaste coup de filet très médiatisé : 814 perquisitions, 686 interpellations et 103 mises en examen. Lors du procès qui s’est déroulé du 13 au 17 mars, ce sont finalement 66 personnes, consommateurs présumés de documents pédophiles, qui ont défilé à la barre.

Verdict du tribunal : clef de voûte du trafic, Bernard Alapetite, poursuivi pour diffusion " d’objets obtenus à l’aide du délit de corruption de mineurs ", a été condamné à un emprisonnement de trois ans ferme - avec mandat d’arrêt à l’audience - assorti d’une privation de ses droits civiques. Associé d’Alapetite dans sa société d’édition de cassettes vidéo, Platypus, Patrick Morault écope pour sa part de quatre mois de prison avec sursis. Et deux réalisateurs d’un film " représentant des mineurs dans des situations pornographiques " ont des peines d’amende allant de 5 000 à 15 000 francs.

Bien avant leur interpellation dans le procès Ado 71, tous ces individus étaient connus des services de police. Le nom de Bernard Alapetite et de ses pairs revient dans d’autres affaires de pédophilie. Et notamment dans le réseau Toro Bravo, lié à l’extrême droite. La justice connaissait aussi les liens étroits d’Alapetite avec Manuel Vuillaume, un proche du pasteur Doucet assassiné en 1990.

Dans l’appréciation du tribunal sur l’affaire Ado 71, il y a donc les professionnels de la pédophilie, fournisseurs de cassettes et recruteurs d’enfants, animateurs d’un vaste trafic qui alimente des réseaux. Mais comment ? Avec qui et pour qui ? Cela reste à approfondir. Et puis, il y a les consommateurs amateurs, dont les 60 prévenus poursuivis pour détention de cassettes pédophiles. Le tribunal de Mâcon en a relaxé neuf. Tous les autres se voient infliger des peines de deux à six mois de prison avec sursis. À ces sanctions s’ajoutent pour certains, deux à cinq ans de privation de leurs droits civiques et familiaux et des amendes.

Hier, les parties civiles - dont trois associations de protection de l’enfance - étaient plutôt satisfaites du jugement du tribunal de Mâcon. " Cette affaire est une preuve de plus de l’existence des réseaux pédophiles ", estime Simone Chalon, présidente d’Enfance majuscule. " Restent les enfants filmés sur ces cassettes ? Tous sont des victimes et en danger. Qui sont-ils ? Où sont-ils ? Va-t-on enfin mettre les moyens nécessaires pour les retrouver ? "

France Berlioz

11/05/2000 l'Humanité

top panel says war on drugs cannot be won

2011-06-02T04:03:00.006+01:00

.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13624303

2 June 2011

Global war on drugs has 'failed' say former leaders

Opiate use increased by 35% worldwide from 1998-2008, in spite of anti-drug efforts

The global war on drugs has "failed" according to a new report by group of politicians and former world leaders.

The Global Commission on Drug Policy report calls for the legalisation of some drugs and an end to the criminalisation of drug users.

The panel includes former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, the former leaders of Mexico, Colombia and Brazil, and the entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson.

The White House rejected the findings, saying the report was misguided.

The 19-member commission includes the former US Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, the former President of Colombia Cesar Gaviria, and the current Prime Minister of Greece George Papandreou.

"The evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that repressive strategies will not solve the drug problem, and that the war on drugs has not, and cannot, be won”

The panel also features prominent Latin American writers Carlos Fuentes and Mario Vargas Llosa, the EU's former foreign policy chief Javier Solana, and George Schultz, the former US Secretary of State.

'No harm to others'

Their report argues that anti-drug policy has failed by fuelling organised crime, costing taxpayers millions of dollars and causing thousands of deaths.

It cites UN estimates that opiate use increased 35% worldwide from 1998 to 2008, cocaine by 27%, and cannabis by 8.5%.

The authors criticise governments who claim the current war on drugs is effective:

"Political leaders and public figures should have the courage to articulate publicly what many of them acknowledge privately: that the evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that repressive strategies will not solve the drug problem, and that the war on drugs has not, and cannot, be won," the report said.

Instead of punishing users who the report says "do no harm to others," the commission argues that governments should end criminalisation of drug use, experiment with legal models that would undermine organised crime syndicates and offer health and treatment services for drug-users.

It calls for drug policies based on methods empirically proven to reduce crime and promote economic and social development.

The commission is especially critical of the US, saying it must abandon anti-crime approaches to drug policy and adopt strategies rooted in healthcare and human rights.

"We hope this country (the US) at least starts to think there are alternatives," said the former Colombian President Cesar Gaviria.

"We don't see the US evolving in a way that is compatible with our (countries') long-term interests."

The office of White House drug tsar Gil Kerlikowske rejected the panel's recommendations.

"Drug addiction is a disease that can be successfully prevented and treated," said a spokesman for the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

"Making drugs more available - as this report suggests - will make it harder to keep our communities healthy and safe."

Analysis

Adam Mynott, BBC News

It is a damning indictment. The group of world leaders, including former Presidents of Mexico and Colombia which are blighted by the trade in illegal drugs, says urgent changes are overdue.

Their report says current policies to tackle drug abuse and the crime that preys on it are clearly not working, but result in thousands of deaths and rampant lawlessness.

It calls for an end to the 'criminalisation, marginalisation and stigmatisation of people who use drugs but who do no harm to others'.

The leading international figures behind the report do not pull their punches. They say sensible regulation of drugs is working in some countries but they accuse many governments around the world of pretending that the current war on drugs is effective when they know it isn't.

Drugs need to be decriminalised, they say, and addicts need to be treated as patients, not villains.

fukushima: "tokyo could become off limits"

2011-05-29T13:16:00.006+01:00

.
may 26

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304066504576348263512336934.html

Transcript of Interview With Ichiro Ozawa

YUKA HAYASHI And TOKO SEKIGUCHI

The following is a partial transcript from The Wall Street Journal Interview with Japan senior political figure Ichiro Ozawa, who is calling on Prime Minister Naoto Kan to step down. Ozawa is a long-time rival within the ruling Democratic Party of Japan and is facing charges of improprieties over his fund-raising organization.

Q: By and large, how would you assess the government's response to the earthquake and nuclear crisis?

A: It's been two months, actually 70 days, but the situation at the nuclear reactors is still out of control.

The Kan administration's handling of the situation has been extremely slow. Their understanding of the gravity of the radioactive contamination has been altogether too rosy, or rather they haven't understood it at all.

The administration hasn't taken the initiative in making decisions and executing policies. Decision-making equals taking responsibility. So if nobody is taking responsibility, nothing is being decided.

Q: Why didn't the Kan administration inform the public of the severity of the problems at the nuclear plants? Did they know?

A: Of course the administration knew.

Q: What could the government have done to prevent the flare-up in the nuclear crisis?

A: First of all, it makes no sense to point fingers at Tepco (plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co.), given the current situation. There are a lot of arguments going on, blaming TEPCO, blaming this person and that person. They are all meaningless. There is no point in blaming Tepco. I strongly believe the government must take the leadership and take the initiative in determining what to do. In reality, Tepco is no longer capable of doing anything. (By not facing reality) we are moving toward a tragedy, day by day.

Q: Prime Minister Kan set up a task force and has stationed government officials inside Tepco's offices so they can keep tabs on the company. Is that enough?

A: When Tepco knew what was happening at the nuclear plants, the government must have known it as well. As I said, they can't go on blaming others. The government must take responsibility and take the lead in coming up with solutions.

Q: If you had been in charge, would you have disclosed all the information about the meltdown in the initial stage?

A: Yes. I would have. There is no use in holding back information. We have to decide what to do, based on the premise of the information we have. This problem may be contained in Fukushima for now, but the contamination may spread outside of Fukushima. Anxiety and frustration are growing. People cannot live in the contaminated areas. These areas are becoming uninhabitable. Japan has lost its territory by that much. If we do nothing, even Tokyo could become off limits. There is a huge amount of uranium fuels in the plants, much more than in Chernobyl. This is a terrible situation. The government doesn't tell the truth and people live in a happy-go-lucky...

Q: Mr. Kan seems to have turned to many people for advice. What seems to be the problem?

A: It's not enough. Precisely, it's meaningless to put together a team made up exclusively of people who depend on nuclear power to make a living. All of them are members of the nuclear mafia. Did you see all those scholars saying "the crisis is not so terrible," "won't harm the health at all" on TV? What they say is meaningless because they depend on nuclear power for their livelihood. But people, and the Japanese media, don't understand it. The Japanese media is helpless.

Q: How far can Mr. Kan go before he should resign?

A: It's hard to say how long he should stay. He hasn't done anything. If we let him dilly-dally like this, we'll soon be facing a tragedy.

Q: Why do you think such an accident happened?

A: We need to depend on nuclear energy to a certain degree. But we need to bear in mind that this is a transitional source of energy, because we are not able to process high-level radioactive nuclear waste.

Q: Is your criticism that Mr. Kan has not been forthcoming about the condition of the accident, or that the administration was weak, allowing the situation to get out of hand? Do you think if the Kan administration were stronger, we could have contained the situation much earlier?

A: People are beginning to realize the DPJ-led government—the Kan administration in particular—is not living up to its promise. That is why the administration is losing the support of the people.

Q: Does taking responsibility mean that Mr. Kan should step down? If Mr. Kan refuses to step down, do you think legislators should submit a censure motion against him to force him to quit?

A: If the prime minister cannot implement policies, it's meaningless for him to stay in power.

Q: There have been discussions about possibly submitting a censure motion or a no-confidence vote to parliament. At a time of this national crisis, how do you think the public would view such a development?

A: In Japanese eyes, it's in hard times that we have to go out of our way to be nice to each other. That's why things don't work out. The Japanese media is responsible too. When we're in a time of peace, we can have any type of leader and we are fine. This is a difficult time, a time of crisis. That's why we need to choose a leader who can withstand the hardship and an administration that can endure it.

Japanese way of thinking is the opposite to that. People from continents don't think like that. As the Japanese have been taking peace for granted, we tend to avoid confrontation and try to get along with each other. But being friendly with each other won't solve any problems. We try to have harmless and inoffensive conversations to avoid confrontation. But if this was sufficient, there would be no need for politicians. We can just leave everything to bureaucrats.

Q: But do we have strong leaders to replace Mr. Kan?

A: There are plenty.

Q: Speaking of strong leaders, the public sees you as a forceful leader. Do you have any plans to lead?

A: I'm an old soldier. Have you heard of General MacArthur's words, "Old soldiers just fade away"? I was thinking about just fading away, but now I feel I have a bit more work to do.

Q: This will be a different topic, but what is the current situation and what do you plan to do about the allegations of the violation of the political funds law that you're facing?

A: There's no direction I'm planning to take, since I have done nothing wrong.

This is quite a danger to this country's democracy. That means that only those favored by the government or by the prosecutors can take part in politics. They can do anything they want. Anything can be done with such powers and it's really scary. You could face the danger of being arrested over your stories. That's what it is. You cannot allow such things to happen. If I really received any money illegally, I would have retired ages ago.

They conducted the investigation for over a year and they still haven't found anything. All they ever found was that I wrote the report in a wrong way.

Q: Reconstruction will require a lot of money and resources, and the Diet is currently debating the need for a second supplementary budget. What is the urgency and how large should this second reconstruction budget be? Where would funding come from?

A: That's another typical Japanese way of thought. No matter how much money it takes it must be done. With all that happening you can't live in Japan. Some day we may not be able to live in Japan. There is the possibility that the power plant can reach the state of criticality again. If it explodes, it's a huge matter. Radiation is being leaked in order to keep the reactors from exploding. So, in this sense, it's even worse than letting the power plant explode. Radiation is going to be flowing out for a long period of time. This is not a matter of money, but of life and death for the Japanese. If Japan cannot be saved, then the people of Japan are done for. We can always print money. Ultimately the people will have to bear the burden. Government must be determined to put a stop to radioactive pollution no matter what it takes, money or otherwise. The Japanese people must understand the situation. Bonds will have to be paid back, but if you can save lives with money, then so be it.

Q: Should Tepco be treated in the same manner that other failed businesses have been dealt with?

A: Tepco is not a big deal. The fate of a single private sector company is not the fundamental issue. Let's say Tepco really becomes bankrupt and you leave it as it is. Then it would become unable to distribute electricity and operate. That would be the biggest problem. Moreover, since they've issued five trillion yen worth of corporate bonds, the bond prices might plunge and have a huge impact on the public bond market. Also, they have borrowed trillions of yen from the banks and not being able to return the money would create trouble for the banks. Can this situation be dealt with? Not a problem. The point is to stop the radioactive contamination.

...

Q: You say that you want to do some more political work, but what exactly do you want to do?

A: What I've been saying. I want to install a parliamentary democracy in Japan. This is something I am still trying to achieve. In reality what is happening is that the DPJ has lost the public's backing and the LDP is no longer the LDP it used to be. If this continues, the political scene of Japan will be a mess. So, I've decided to give my old bones a push to prevent such a scenario from taking place.

yuka.hayashi@wsj.com

fukushima updates

2011-05-19T13:22:00.006+01:00

may 18

SEOUL — Japanese playwright Oriza Hirata, who serves as a special adviser to the Cabinet, claimed in a recent lecture given in Seoul that the dumping of low-level radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean followed a "strong request" from the United States, a person who attended the lecture said Wednesday. The release of the water from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant last month generated anxiety about the possible spread of radioactive contamination from the seaside power station. The Japanese government had apparently given its permission for the release of the water after receiving a report from plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. Hirata's remarks, made Tuesday, that the release was not carried out based on Tokyo's independent judgment but rather on a request from Washington is likely to ignite a debate. South Korea and other neighboring countries have protested the lack of prior notification of the discharge...While acknowledging that the release of the water caused concern in South Korea, he said the thousands of tons of water were not highly radioactive. (Kyodo/Japan Times)

may 17

"Only the mass media can put the kind of pressure on TEPCO and the Japanese government to bring about major change. This will cost at least 10 billion dollars if not 20-30 billion to clean up. It will take at least 10 years if not 20 and roughly 10,000 people working on the cleanup. The nuclear business is global. This needs an international effort to clean up Fukushima."

-- Nuclear Engineer Akira Tokuhiro...(Huffington Post)

may 16

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) admitted for the first time on May 15 that most of the fuel in one of its nuclear reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant had melted only about 16 hours after the March 11 earthquake struck a wide swath of northeastern Japan and triggered a devastating tsunami... (Mainichi Daily News)

may 15

http://www.rense.com/general94/whowill.htm

Who Will Take the Radioactive Rods From Fukushima?

Yoichi Shimatsu
Exclusive to Rense.com
Former Editor of the Japan Times Weekly A Hong Kong-Based Environmental Writer

The decommissioning of the Fukushima 1 nuclear plant is delayed by a single problem: Where to dispose of the uranium fuel rods? Many of those rods are extremely radioactive and partially melted, and some contain highly lethal plutonium.

Besides the fissile fuel inside the plant's six reactors, more than 7 tons of spent rods have to be removed to a permanent storage site before workers can bury the Fukushima facility under concrete. The rods cannot be permanently stored in Japan because the country's new waste storage centers on the northeast tip of Honshu are built on unsuitable land. The floors of the Rokkasho reprocessing facility and Mutsu storage unit are cracked from uneven sinking into the boggy soil.

Entombment of the rods inside the Fukushima 1 reactors carries enormous risks because the footing of landfill cannot support the weight of the fuel rods in addition to the reactors and cooling water inside the planned concrete containment walls. The less reactive spent fuel would have to be kept inside air-cooled dry casks. The powerful earthquakes that frequently strike the Tohoku region will eventually undermine the foundations, causing radioactive wastewater to pour unstoppably into the Pacific Ocean. The rods must therefore go to another country.

American Bad Faith

Under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), signed by Japan in 1970, Washington's negotiators stipulated that used nuclear fuel from Japanese reactors must by law be shipped to the United States for storage or reprocessing to prevent the development of an atomic bomb. Washington has been unable to fulfill its treaty obligations to Tokyo due to the public outcry against the proposed Yucca Mountain storage facility near Las Vegas.

A panel convened by the Obama administration has just recommended the set up of a network of storage sites across the United States, a controversy certain to revive the anti-nuclear sentiments during the upcoming election campaign. The American nuclear industry has its own stockpile of more than 60,000 tons of spent fuel - not counting waste from reactors used for military and research purposes - leaving no space for Fukushima's rods inside the Nevada disposal site, if indeed it is ever opened.

To Continental Asia

The Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) has allocated 1 trillion yen ($12 billion) in funds for nuclear waste disposal. Areva, the French nuclear monopoly, has teamed up with Tepco to find an overseas storage site. So far, the Tepco-Areva team have quietly contacted three Asian countries - Kazakhstan, China and Mongolia -- to set up a center for "reprocessing", a euphemism for nuclear dump site.

Among the threesome, China was the top choice for the Japanese nuclear establishment, which has confidence in Beijing's ability to safeguard nuclear secrets from its citizenry and even from the top leaders. Japan's space agency, which keeps 24-hour satellite observation over every nuclear-related facility in China, possesses the entire record of radiation leaks there. Since Beijing withholds this sort of data from the public, the Japanese side felt it had the necessary leverage in talks with Chinese nuclear officials.

Though the nuclear-sector bureaucrats were initially eager to receive bundles of yen, the proposal was blown away by the salt craze that swept over China. Within a couple of weeks of the Fukushima meltdowns, millions of shoppers emptied supermarket shelves on rumors that iodized salt could prevent radiation-caused thyroid cancer. The Chinese public is rightfully fearful of health-related scandals after discoveries of melamine in milk, growth hormones in pork, pesticides in vegetables, antibiotics in fish and now radioactive fallout over farmland.

A nuclear disposal deal would require trucks loaded with radioactive cargo to roll through a densely populated port, perhaps Tianjin or Ningbo, in the dead of night. There is no way that secret shipments wouldn't be spotted by locals with smart phones, triggering a mass exodus from every city, town and village along the route to the dumping grounds in China's far west. Thus, the skittishness of the ordinary Chinese citizen knocked out the easiest of nefarious plans.

Principle of Industrial Recovery

A more logical choice for overseas storage is in the sparsely populated countries that supply uranium ore to Japan, particularly Australia and Canada. As exporters of uranium, Canberra and Ottawa are ultimately responsible for storage of the nuclear waste under the legal principle of industrial recovery.

The practice of industrial recovery is already well-established in the consumer electronics and household appliances sectors where manufacturers are required by an increasing number of countries to take back and recycle used television sets, computers and refrigerators.

Under the principle, uranium mining giants like Rio Tinto and CAMECO would be required to take back depleted uranium. The cost of waste storage would then be factored into the export price for uranium ore. The added cost is passed along to utility companies and ultimately the consumer through a higher electricity rate. If the market refuses to bear the higher price for uranium as compared with other fuels, then nuclear power will go the way of the steam engine.

Australian and Canadian politicians are bound to opportunistically oppose the return of depleted uranium since any shipments from Fukushima would be met by a massive turnout of "not-in-my-backyard" protesters. The only way for Tokyo to convince the local politicos to go along quietly is by threatening to publish an online list of the bribe-takers in parliament who had earlier backed uranium mining on behalf of the Japanese interests.
Nuclear's Cost-Efficiency

The question then arise whether nuclear power, when long-term storage fees are included, is competitive with investment in renewable energy such as wind, solar, hydro and tidal resources. Renewable energy probably has the edge since they don't create waste. Natural gas remains the undisputed price beater wherever it is available in abundance. In a free market without hidden subsidies, nuclear is probably doomed.

In a lapse of professionalism, the International Atomic Energy Commission (IAEA) has never seriously addressed nuclear-waste disposal as an industrywide issue. Based on the ration of spent rods to reactor fuel inside U.S. nuclear facilities, there are close to 200,000 metric tons of high-level nuclear waste at the 453 civilian nuclear-energy plants worldwide. Yet not a single permanent storage site has ever been opened anywhere.

The Fukushima 1 dilemma shows that the issues of cost-efficiency and technological viability can no longer be deferred or ignored. Ratings agencies report that Tepco's outstanding debt has soared beyond $90 billion, meaning that it cannot cover future costs of storing spent rods from its Kashiwazaki and Fukushima 2 nuclear plants. The Japanese government's debt has soared to 200 percent of GDP. Neither entity can afford the rising cost of nuclear power.

The inability of Tepco or the government to pay for nuclear waste disposal puts the financial liability squarely on its partner companies and suppliers, including GE, Toshiba, Hitachi, Kajima Construction and especially the sources of the uranium, CAMECO and Rio Tinto and the governments of Canada and Australia. A fundamental rule of both capitalism and civil law is that somebody has to pay.

Last Stop

Since Australia and Canada aren't in any hurry to take back the radioactive leftovers, that leaves Japan and treaty-partner United States with only one option for quick disposal- Mongolia.


Ulan Bator accepts open-pit mining for coal and copper, which are nothing but gigantic toxic sites, so why not take the melted-down nuclear rods? Its GDP, ranked 136 among the world's economies, is estimated to be $5.8 billion in 2010. Thus, $12 billion is an unimaginable sum for one more hole in the ground.

Not that Mongolia would get the entirety of the budget, since the nuclear cargo would have to transit through the Russian Far East. Unlike the health-conscious Chinese, the population of Nakhodka or Vladivostok are used to playing fast-and-loose with radioactive materials and vodka.

Even if the mafia that runs the Russian transport industry were to demand a disproportionate cut, Mongolia's 3 million inhabitants would be overjoyed at gaining about $2,000 each, more than the average annual income, that is if the money is divided evenly after the costs of building the dump.

Realistically, the Mongolian people are unlikely to receive a penny, since the money will go into a trust fund for maintenance costs. That's because $12 billion spread over the half-life of uranium - 700 million years - is equivalent to $17 in annual rent. That doesn't even cover kibble bits for the watchdog on duty, much less the cooling system. Not that anyone will be counting since by the time uranium decays to a safe level, fossils will be the sole remnant of human life on Earth.

Illusory, shortsighted greed will surely triumph in Mongolia, and that leaves a question of moral accountability for the rest of us. Will the world community feel remorse for dumping its nuclear mess onto an ancient culture that invented boiled mutton, fermented mare's milk and Genghis Khan? For guilt-ridden diplomats from Tokyo and Washington wheedling the dirty deal in Ulan Bator, here's the rebuttal: Did the national hero, the Great Khan, ever shed any tears or feel pangs of guilt? There's no need for soul-searching. A solution is at hand.

...highly radioactive substances were detected in parts of Tokyo. Japan's Asahi Shimbun reports about 3,200 and nearly 2-thousand becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram were found in the soil of Tokyo districts of Koto and Chiyoda, respectively, from testing conducted between April 10th and the 20th. This amount is higher than what was found in the prefectures near the Fukushima plant and experts warn that other areas may be subject to radiation contamination as clusters of clouds containing radioactive material remain in the atmosphere...(Arirang TV Korea)

may 14

Plutonium detected in rice paddy by a food manufacturer more than 50 kms away from Fukushima power plant...(physics forum)

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201105130370.html

TEPCO concealed radiation data before explosion at No. 3 reactor

Tokyo Electric Power Co. concealed data showing spikes in radiation levels at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in March, one day before a hydrogen explosion injured seven workers.

The Asahi Shimbun obtained a 100-page internal TEPCO report containing minute-to-minute data on radiation levels at the plant as well as pressure and water levels inside the No. 3 reactor from March 11 to April 30.

The data has never been released by the company that operates the stricken plant.

The unpublished information shows that at 1:17 p.m. on March 13, 300 millisieverts of radiation per hour was detected inside a double-entry door at the No. 3 reactor building. At 2:31 p.m., the radiation level was measured at 300 millisieverts or higher per hour to the north of the door.

Both levels were well above the upper limit of 250 millisieverts for an entire year under the plant's safety standards for workers. But the workers who were trying to bring the situation under control at the plant were not informed of the levels.

When the Great East Japan Earthquake struck on March 11, the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 reactors all automatically shut down. But the tsunami crippled the emergency generators, leading to a total power failure that prevented the cooling systems from functioning.

The TEPCO data also showed high levels of hydrogen may be emitting from the damaged core of the No. 3 reactor on March 13, when TEPCO started injecting seawater to cool the reactor.

The following day around 11 a.m., a hydrogen explosion destroyed the upper part of the No. 3 reactor building. Seven TEPCO workers were injured in the blast.

TEPCO's public relations department said the company has informed the public that significant levels of radiation have been detected at the plant, but it disclose specific data after a thorough review of the figures is completed.

Keiji Miyazaki, professor emeritus of nuclear reactor engineering at Osaka University, criticized TEPCO's policy.

He said such important data should be immediately released to ensure the safety of the public and workers at the plant, especially in an emergency like the Fukushima nuclear accident.

Miyazaki said TEPCO's decision to conceal the data must be scrutinized.

Failure to release radiation data in the early stages of the crisis is said to have delayed the evacuations of communities near the plant.

Kiyoshi Sakurai, another nuclear power expert, said a thorough examination is needed not only on TEPCO's unpublished data, but also verbal communications of those involved, instructions issued by the central government and TEPCO, and the communication structure between management and workers at the plant.

Kamome Fujimori, Tatsuyuki Kobori and Yo Noguchi

...A sewage plant in eastern Tokyo detected a highly radioactive substance in incinerator ash shortly after the nuclear crisis began at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, metropolitan government sources revealed Friday. The radioactive intensity of the substance was 170,000 becquerels per kilogram, the unnamed sources said. The ash, which has been recycled into construction materials, including cement, was collected from a sludge plant in Koto Ward in March. At almost at the same time that month, a radioactive substance with a radioactive intensity ranging from 100,000 to 140,000 becquerels per kg was also detected in ash at two other Tokyo sewage plants in Ota and Itabashi wards, the sources said. After a month, the radiation levels had dropped to 15,000 to 24,000 becquerels per kg at the three sewage plants, they added...(Kyodo/Japan Times)

2,000 millisieverts, or 2 sieverts, per hour radiation was detected inside the southeast double door of the Reactor 1 reactor building. Measurement was done by a remote-controlled robot on May 13. The location is where the pipe is that goes into the Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV)...(ex-skf.blogspot)

A worker at Japan's tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant died today, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co said, bringing the death toll at the complex to three since a massive earthquake and tsunami in March. The cause of the death was unknown. The man, in his 60s, was employed by one of Tokyo Electric's contractors and started working at the plant yesterday. He was exposed to 0.17 millisieverts of radiation today, Tokyo Electric said. The Japanese government's maximum level of exposure for male workers at the plant is 250 millisieverts for the duration of the effort to bring it under control. The worker fell ill 50 minutes after starting work at 6am on Saturday and brought to the plant's medical room unconscious...(The Independent)

may 13

...Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) announced on May 11 that the radiation level exceeded 1,000 millisieverts/hour on the 2nd floor of the Reactor 1's reactor building at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant...(ex-skf.blogspot)

may 8

The first map of ground surface contamination within 80 kilometers of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant shows radiation levels higher in some municipalities than those in the mandatory relocation zone around the Chernobyl plant. The map, released May 6, was compiled from data from a joint aircraft survey undertaken by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and the U.S. Department of Energy. It showed that a belt of contamination, with 3 million to 14.7 million becquerels of cesium-137 per square meter, spread to the northwest of the nuclear plant....(Asahi Shimbun)

may 5

The U.S. government has abandoned efforts to monitor elevated levels of radiation that infiltrated the nation’s water and milk in the wake of a nuclear catastrophe in Japan.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has faced stiff criticism for its slow and spotty monitoring of radioactive iodine, cesium and other materials that were ejected into the atmosphere after the Fukushima nuclear power plant was struck by a tsunami in early March. The material fell on the United States in rainwater and was ingested by cows, which passed it through into their milk.

Radiation levels in some milk and rain samples have exceeded normal long-term federal drinking water standards, but EPA officials have described the levels as almost completely safe. Anti-nuclear power activists have accused the federal government of downplaying the health risks in an effort to protect the nuclear power industry and predicted that the radioactive isotopes will lead to a rash of cancers.

Source: The Bay Citizen (http://s.tt/12nle)

The U.S. government has abandoned efforts to monitor elevated levels of radiation that infiltrated the nation’s water and milk in the wake of a nuclear catastrophe in Japan. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has faced stiff criticism for its slow and spotty monitoring of radioactive iodine, cesium and other materials that were ejected into the atmosphere after the Fukushima nuclear power plant was struck by a tsunami in early March. The material fell on the United States in rainwater and was ingested by cows, which passed it through into their milk.

Radiation levels in some milk and rain samples have exceeded normal long-term federal drinking water standards, but EPA officials have described the levels as almost completely safe. Anti-nuclear power activists have accused the federal government of downplaying the health risks in an effort to protect the nuclear power industry and predicted that the radioactive isotopes will lead to a rash of cancers. (Baycitizen.org)

Diet against radiation sickness

may 9

Macrobiotic Diet Prevents Radiation Sickness Among A-Bomb Survivors in Japan - In August, 1945, at the time of the atomic bombing of Japan, Tatsuichiro Akizuki, M.D., was director of the Department of Internal Medicine at St. Francis's Hospital in Nagasaki. Most patients in the hospital, located one mile from the center of the blast, survived the initial effects of the bomb, but soon after came down with symptoms of radiation sickness from the fallout that had been released. Dr. Akizuki fed his staff and patients a strict macrobiotic diet of brown rice, miso soup, wakame and other sea vegetables, Hokkaido pumpkin, and sea salt and prohibited the consumption of sugar and sweets. As a result, he saved everyone in his hospital, while many other survivors in the city perished from radiation sickness.
I gave the cooks and staff strict orders that they should make unpolished whole-grain rice balls, adding some salt to them, prepare strong miso soup for each meal, and never use sugar. When they didn't follow my orders, I scolded them without mercy, 'Never take sugar. Sugar will destroy your blood!'...
This dietary method made it possible for me to remain alive and go on working vigorously as a doctor. The radioactivity may not have been a fatal dose, but thanks to this method, Brother Iwanaga, Reverend Noguchi, Chief Nurse Miss Murai, other staff members and in-patients, as well as myself, all kept on living on the lethal ashes of the bombed ruins. It was thanks to this food that all of us could work for people day after day, overcoming fatigue or symptoms of atomic disease and survive the disaster" free from severe symptoms of radioactivity. (Huffington Post)

m

m

The U.S. government has abandoned efforts to monitor elevated levels of radiation that infiltrated the nation’s water and milk in the wake of a nuclear catastrophe in Japan.

Source: The Bay Citizen (http://s.tt/12nle)

The U.S. government has abandoned efforts to monitor elevated levels of radiation that infiltrated the nation’s water and milk in the wake of a nuclear catastrophe in Japan.

Source: The Bay Citizen (http://s.tt/12nle)

presse: le monde nage sous le caniveau

2011-05-17T21:53:00.007+01:00

.
http://www.voltairenet.org/article169786.html

source: reseau Voltaire

Thierry Meyssan répond au « Monde »

17 mai 2011
Beyrouth

Les partisans de l’Alliance atlantique se sont trouvés embarrassés par l’écho d’un article paru sur Voltairenet.org et largement repris sur le web à propos de l’annonce par Barack Obama de la mort d’Oussama Ben Laden. Pour stopper le débat, Le Monde a publié une chronique dont le style ordurier tranche avec l’image policée que le journal auto-proclamé « de référence » aime à se donner. L’avocat de Thierry Meyssan a prié le directeur de la rédaction de publier la réponse ci-dessous. Méprisant l’obligation que la loi lui fait et l’information de ses lecteurs, Le Monde s’y est refusé.

Dans son édition datée du 7 mai 2011, Le Monde réagit par une chronique à mes « Réflexions sur l’annonce officielle de la mort de Ben Laden », paru sur le site internet du Réseau Voltaire.

La journaliste brocarde mon œuvre en général et la qualifie de manière désobligeante. C’est sa libre opinion. Mais lorsqu’il lui faut étayer son humeur par des faits, elle multiplie les erreurs factuelles. J’en retiendrai quatre :

La chroniqueuse affirme que mon « nouveau job [est] conseiller en communication du Hezbollah à Beyrouth ». Ce n’est pas une information, c’est son imagination.

Elle rappelle que, en 1999, j’avais mis en lumière des liens étroits entre le service d’ordre du Front National (DPS) et la présidence de la République. Pour tourner en dérision cette enquête, elle assure que je m’étais appuyé pour toute preuve sur le fait que son directeur travaillait dans le même lieu que la maîtresse du président. Le fond du sujet était ailleurs : nombre de cadres du DPS servaient aussi de mercenaires en Afrique et en Tchétchénie lors d’opérations commanditées par les services secrets français. Mon travail fut considéré comme suffisamment sérieux à l’époque pour susciter une Commission d’enquête parlementaire et pour que le FN décide lui-même de faire le tri parmi ses collaborateurs.

La chroniqueuse résume mon livre L’Effroyable imposture —qu’elle a par ailleurs abondamment commenté depuis neuf ans, mais dont elle semble toujours ignorer le contenu— en assurant faussement que j’ai attribué les attentats du 11-Septembre à la CIA. En réalité, j’y attribue ces attentats à une faction du complexe militaro-industriel. Cette brève réponse n’est pas le lieu pour résumer mes arguments, mais ils sont suffisamment pertinents pour avoir convaincu des centaines de millions de gens de par le monde. Au point que, le 23 septembre dernier, le président iranien demande à l’Assemblée générale des Nations unies de constituer une commission d’enquête internationale pour clarifier les faits et convoque dans quelques jours une conférence internationale à Téhéran sur ce sujet.

Enfin, la chroniqueuse revient sur mon travail sur le « Printemps arabe ». Elle relève que j’ai évoqué plusieurs manipulations de la CIA, mais elle en rend compte comme si j’assimilais ces révolutions anti-impérialistes et antisionistes à des manipulations états-uniennes. C’est le contraire : j’ai écrit sur les manipulations de la CIA et d’autres agences pour détourner ces révolutions de leur buts légitimes au profit d’une contre-révolution favorable au système de domination actuel.

C’était d’ailleurs précisément le sens de mes réflexions sur l’annonce de la mort d’Oussama Ben Laden : elle était à mon sens devenue indispensable, en termes de communication, depuis que ses jihadistes se battent aux côtés de l’OTAN en Libye et aux côtés de Frères musulmans en Syrie.

Thierry Meyssan

http://carolinefourest.wordpress.com/2011/05/09/ben-laden-chez-elvis/

Ben Laden chez Elvis

Caroline Fourest

Le Monde
07.05.11

Ben Laden n’est pas mort. Il sirote une bière sans alcool avec Elvis. Quelque part dans un coin paumé de l’imaginaire conspirationniste. Un univers de sceptiques, gavés jusqu’au cortex de films hollywoodiens, mais méfiants jusqu’à l’os lorsque l’Amérique fait une annonce officielle. Que ce soit à propos des ovnis ou du 11-Septembre. Les théories les plus fumeuses sur l’attentat du World Trade Center les ont régalés. La mort sans photo de Ben Laden devrait les tenir en haleine une bonne décennie.

A peine l’allocution de Barack Obama terminée, le Web enflait de rumeurs folles. La palme du scénario le plus original revient à Thierry Meyssan, déjà remarqué pour son synopsis sur le 11-Septembre. Un best-seller qui porte bien son nom,L’Effroyable Imposture (Carnot), et dont la couverture proclame : « Aucun avion ne s’est écrasé sur le Pentagone ! » Beaucoup pensaient que la mystification se dévoilerait d’elle-même. C’était mal connaître l’époque et son besoin de croire en une vérité cachée. Surtout si elle arrange certains régimes. Grâce à son livre, Thierry Meyssan a connu une carrière internationale fulgurante. L’homme ne sait plus où donner de la tête, entre les invitations de son ami Hugo Chavez, les réceptions dans les ambassades iraniennes, les contacts avec la Chine, ses voyages en Syrie et surtout son nouveau job : conseiller en communication du Hezbollah à Beyrouth.

Drôle de trajectoire tout de même. Dans les années 1990, le même homme défendait la laïcité et la liberté d’expression contre l’intégrisme. A l’époque, il militait au Parti radical de gauche, au sein d’associations gays et se revendiquait franc-maçon. La gauche laïque raffolait de ses « billets » sur l’extrême droite catholique, bien que souvent faux ou romancés. Le Réseau Voltaire, sa petite agence d’information, prenait la suite du Projet Ornicar, une association défendant la liberté sexuelle contre la censure et l’ordre moral.

Etonnante reconversion, déjà, puisque Meyssan avait milité dans sa jeunesse au Renouveau charismatique, un mouvement moraliste inspiré du pentecôtisme américain. A l’en croire, son mariage avait même été « annulé » par l’Eglise pour homosexualité. Désormais, le voilà aux côtés des gardiens de la Révolution islamique, qui pend les homosexuels. Qui peut encore le croire ?

Véritable Picasso du conspirationnisme, Meyssan n’a cessé de changer de style et de versions pour vendre ses complots en kit, selon ses inspirations et la tête du client. Longtemps, la marotte du Réseau Voltaire fut l’Opus Dei. Puis ce fut l’ère du grand « complot mitterrandien », qu’il voyait partout. Y compris derrière le DPS, le service d’ordre du Front national ! La preuve ? Son chef de l’époque, Bernard Courcelle, avait travaillé au musée d’Orsay… où travaillait également Anne Pingeot, la maîtresse cachée de Mitterrand. Mais c’est bien sûr !

Depuis, notre Sherlock Holmes a trouvé une « machine à fantasmes » qui se vend bien mieux, surtout à l’international : la CIA. D’après le Réseau Voltaire, c’est elle qui a orchestré le 11-Septembre, mais aussi la prise d’otages de Beslan (Ossétie du Nord). Elle encore qui manipule le « printemps arabe ». Les Arabes ne sont déjà pas capables de détourner des avions, alors penser une révolution… D’ailleurs, ce n’est pas Bachar Al-Assad qui fait tirer sur la foule. Meyssan se demande si ces miliciens en voiture ne seraient pas plutôt des Américains. Il en est persuadé : la CIA en veut à sa vie. Mais ne croit pas une seconde que l’Amérique vient de tuer Ben Laden. Et pour cause, il le donne déjà mort en 2001.

En fait, la CIA ferait semblant d’avoir tué un homme qu’elle a déjà tué… Pour manipuler les islamistes sunnites contre les régimes iranien et syrien. Les nouveaux amis du Réseau Voltaire. Autant dire ses producteurs. Dommage que Thierry Meyssan n’assume pas sa vraie vocation : scénariste.

alarming rates of radioactivity even in europe

2011-04-29T06:17:00.004+01:00

.

updated: april 29

The following map of Germany with measurements in microsievert per hour shows levels over the limit for the public of 0.11 microsievert per hour in most parts of Germany. I wrote earlier that "People living in central Europe should stay indoors: pregnant women and children OUGHT to stay indoors". Unfortunately I later on had more time to read the available data: the situation has been consistently at levels in microsievert per hour deemed high for the past 31 days. It is therefore of no use to stay indoors because indoor air after a couple of hours is completely renewed with outdoor air. On the telephone, Chris Busby of the Low Level Radiation Campaign, told this writer he thinks the levels are double what they should be and Michele Rivasi MEP Criirad said to be also worried by these figures. On the other hand Roland Desbordes from the french Criirad considers in an email, that there are no precisions about the origin and the nature of the detected radiation. Therefore the values could correspond to natural fluctuations and reflect nothing abnormal. Please give support to the call by the Criirad to make all CTBTO data available, in particular the data for Plutonium and Uranium contamination.

For a total transparency on the airborne radioactivity we are breathing (CRIIRAD)

For a total transparency on the airborne radioactivity we are breathing Fukushima (Japon)

There are 60 certified radionuclide stations fully equipped with high precision detectors that are set up around the world to monitor airborne radioactivity on a daily basis with unprecedented accuracy. Their objective : Find low quantities of radioactive particles that could reveal a possible nuclear test in violation of the Comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty (CNTBT).

Results of the analyses would allow a follow up, day by day since March 12, 2011, of the evolution on the contaminated airborne masses linked to the radioactive rejections of the FUKUSHIMA DAIICHII nuclear plant. To date this is still impossible as the data are being confiscated by the States. The results are communicated to pre selected official organizations required to keep all information away from public awareness.

This global measuring network is financed by Public funds. Populations have the right to have access to this information. All the figures without exception must be published and not just a few figures carefully selected by the authorities.

I hereby demand that the results of the analyses conducted to measure the airborne radioactivity by the global network (TICEN) be made public, ENTIRELY AND WITHOUT ANY FURTHER DELAY.

Funded by all the citizens of member states, these figures must be made available to public knowledge to serve their right to protection and safety.

Alexandre de Perlinghi

april 27

...Two robots sent into the reactor No. 1 building at the plant yesterday took readings as high as 1,120 millisierverts of radiation per hour...“Tepco must figure out the source of high radiation,” said Hironobu Unesaki, a nuclear engineering professor at Kyoto University. “If it’s from contaminated water leaking from inside the reactor, Tepco’s so-called water tomb may be jeopardized because flooding the containment vessel will result in more radiation in the building.”... (Bloomberg)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Germany:

Bundesamt für Strahlenschutz

map of Germany with past 31 days data in microsievert per hour

ambient gamma dose rate in microsievert per hour past 24 hours map

past 35 days concentration of activity graph in Bq/m3 for:

Iodine-131
Caesium-137
Radon
natural Beryllium-7, Radon, Caesium-137 and Iodine-131

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

France

Rhone valley, data from Criirad in mBq/m3:

latest data Caesium-134, Caesium-137, Iodine-131, Americium-241 and other artificial gamma emitters data

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

European Radiological Data Exchange Platform (EURDEP) public map

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO)

data from the Bundesamt für Strahlenschutz

CBTO world map

World: past six weeks concentration of activity graph in Bq/m3 for:

Iodine-131
Caesium-137

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Iodine Prophylaxis (llrc)

...The UK Health Protection Agency says stable iodine prophylaxis has been demonstrated to have minimal side effects, and there are no medical grounds for restricting the sale of stable iodine tablets to the public. However, UK pharmacists are not allowed to obtain supplies.
These are the recommended daily doses. Don't exceed them.
Age group
Equivalent mass of iodine (milligrams(mg))
Potassium iodate (mg)
Potassium iodide (mg) ¹
Adults
100
168.9
130
Children aged 3-12 years
50
84.4
65
Children aged 1 month-under 3 years
25
42.2
30-35
Neonates (birth-under 1 month)
12.5
21.1
15
...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

april 25th

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20110424dy04.htm

Atmospheric radiation leak underestimated

Data released by the government indicates radioactive material was leaking into the atmosphere from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in early April in greater quantities than previously estimated.

Radioactive material was being released into the atmosphere from the plant at an estimated rate of 154 terabecquerels per day as of April 5, according to data released by the Cabinet Office's Nuclear Safety Commission on Saturday.

The NSC previously estimated radiation leakage on April 5 at "less than 1 terabecquerel per hour."

Iodine-131 and cesium-137 were released into the atmosphere that day at the estimated rates of 0.69 terabecquerel per hour and 0.14 terabecquerel per hour, respectively, the NSC said.

Emissions are converted into iodine-131 equivalents for assessment on the international nuclear event scale (INES), to arrive at the total 154 terabecquerels per day, the nuclear safety watchdog said.

One terabecquerel equals 1 trillion becquerels.

On April 17, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said in its plan for stabilization of the crippled reactors it would not start to get radiation leakage under control until the plan's fourth month of implementation.

This would mean 10,000 terabecquerels of radioactive substances would be released into the atmosphere from the plant during the coming three months, according to simple calculations based on the estimated emission rate as of April 5.

Emissions in that three-month period alone would therefore exceed the level necessary for a Level 6 severity rating on the INES, the globally accepted measure for evaluating nuclear accidents.

The ongoing crisis at the Fukushima plant has been rated a maximum Level 7 on the scale, which was established by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in 1992.

The total amount of radioactive material discharged from the plant from March 11 to early April was estimated between 370,000 and 630,000 terabecquerels, according to government sources.

The commission, however, said the figures were estimates only, "with a considerable margin of error." Radiation levels around the six-reactor complex have been slowly falling, it said.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
related post:

radioactivity: dosimetry + fukushima links

evacuate tokyo, fukushima is an aweapon plant

japan radioactivity: food and water contamination

alert: tokyo withholds key radioactivity data

mean atmospheric radon world map

2011-04-28T00:28:00.005+01:00

.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mean_atmospheric_radon.jpg

.

evacuate tokyo; fukushima is an a-weapon plant!

2011-04-18T15:58:00.039+01:00

.
draft april 24

april 24

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fd20110424pb.html

Decentralizing Tokyo may save the nation

PHILIP BRASOR

The concentration of money and power in Tokyo is to a degree unthinkable in the United States. — Edward Seidensticker

A recent issue of the somewhat disreputable Shukan Jitsuwa looked into a "rumor" that said the capital may be moved to the Kansai region due to the continuing threat of radiation in the eastern part of Japan. The exodus will be spearheaded by the private sector it said, mainly foreign companies but also firms that were born in Kansai but which had over time moved their headquarters to Tokyo. Jitsuwa said that Osaka governor Toru Hashimoto is excited about the possibility, hinting at a rivalry between him and Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara, who has never taken the idea of relocation seriously.

Because it was published in Jitsuwa, many won't take the article seriously, either. However, the earthquake of March 11 reminded everyone just how vulnerable Tokyo is to disaster. The quake caused little damage in the city, but the disruption of transportation and communications lines led to thousands of pedestrians clogging the sidewalks. Another weekly, Sunday Mainichi, reported that 33 percent of the people who commute to Tokyo for work walked home that night. It was an orderly migration, but nevertheless a worrying one. If this is what happens in Tokyo when a major earthquake strikes hundreds of kilometers away, what would happen if one struck much closer?

The idea of relocating the functions of the central government was first floated in the 1960s for various reasons, not all of them having to do with disaster countermeasures. During the so-called bubble period of the late 1980s, land prices in Tokyo were absurdly high, and it was thought that moving at least some of the government would spread the wealth around, since the theory was that related private sector concerns would follow. When the economy cooled in the 1990s so did talk about relocation, and by the late 2000s the idea was considered dead.

Now it's suddenly back. On April 14, Sankei Shimbun reported on a bipartisan meeting of national politicians in the Diet to set up fukutoshin (auxiliary capitals) that can take over if Tokyo is hit by a major natural disaster or terrorist attack. Some 200 lawmakers attended the meeting and agreed that construction must begin as soon as possible, by the end of the year at the latest. The urgency of such a task was underlined by Kobe University seismologist Katsuhiko Ishibashi, who warned at the meeting that if a major earthquake struck the Tokai region and damaged the Hamaoka nuclear power plant in Shizuoka Prefecture, Tokyo, which is less than 100 kilometers away, would have to be evacuated.

More than one auxiliary capital is preferable, but among the candidate locations the favorite seems to be Itami Airport in Osaka, a decision that should please Hashimoto, who wants to close Itami, once the region's international airport, in order to boost the fortunes of the newer Kansai International Airport. A bill has been submitted to set up a special economic district for the auxiliary capital so that planning and construction can begin.

But while there is certainly a need to have government functions reproduced somewhere outside of Tokyo, there are some people who believe it is not enough. In an opinion piece in the Asahi Shimbun, Mitsushi Koyama, the president of food company Bansho, says that full-scale decentralization of Tokyo should be the goal. He uses the expected shortage of electricity this summer to show how too much of the nation's resources are used for Tokyo and the surrounding regions. The area covered by Tokyo Electric Power Co. usually needs between 55 and 60 million kilowatts of power in the summer. None of the other nine regional power companies requires more than 20 million kilowatts at any one time.

But even if the government was moved out of Tokyo, Koyama doesn't believe it's enough. As he points out, only 2.8 percent of Tokyo's workers toil in the public sector, and the old theory that private sector companies would follow the government seems less supportable with the advent of the Internet. If the government wants to promote decentralization, it should directly encourage companies to move out of Tokyo. There's no reason for the Internet shopping mall Rakuten to have its headquarters in Roppongi. It can function anywhere. Japan has an excellent nationwide transportation network and high-speed communications system, so businesses can take advantage of regional characteristics.

Even Okinawa has special merits: All Nippon Airways has developed Naha Airport into a cargo hub for all of eastern Asia, so companies that sell parts to that area of the world could reduce costs if they relocated factories or distribution centers to Okinawa. The Mainichi Shimbun suggested Tokyo companies move to the Tohoku region in order to help it recover more quickly.

Shortly after the earthquake, some companies did move their offices out of the capital, but only temporarily. Under those circumstances, "leaving Tokyo" was seen as a negative thing. Koyama says business groups such as Nippon Keidanren (Japan Federation of Economic Organizations) should promote leaving Tokyo in a positive light. A 47-year-old man who wrote a letter to the Asahi expressed similar ideas but added he didn't think the government could be counted on to make decentralization happen. Despite the concerted push to find an auxiliary capital, the Diet on April 15 passed a bill to give tax breaks to large corporations that plan redevelopment activities in large cities, including Tokyo, where all the large corporations are headquartered.

Ishihara is also an obstacle. During his recent reelection campaign, he supported greater disaster prevention capabilities for the city rather than decentralization. The governor, who has repeatedly said his political vision is national, wants to change Japan from his vantage point of Tokyo, thus indicating Tokyo is the nation. By that logic, if Tokyo falls, so does Japan.

Philip Brasor blogs at philipbrasor.com.

april 23

The Japanese government has expressed concern about the structural strength of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant's Number 1 reactor. It says the ongoing water injections may be making the vessel less earthquake resistant... At the Number 1 reactor, where fuel rods are believed to be the most seriously damaged, six tons of water are being injected every hour.
... (NHK)

april 22

http://llrc.org/index.html

EPA data shows Fukushima Uranium in California

Elevated levels of Uranium have been found in air samplers (filters) operated by US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the north Pacific. Recent data for the Mariana Islands (2800 km south of Fukushima) Hawaii, California and Seattle have been found in the RADNET EPA website.

The graph ... has been created from the very limited data provided. It shows that uranium (and probably also therefore plutonium) particles have been or are being released by the Fukushima catastrophe. They are appearing in California some 8000km away at levels which are greater than background. (Note: EPA has not provided baseline data. The background level indicated by the blue line on the graph is based on averaged measurements at UK Atomic Weapons Establishment.) The increasing trend with proximity to Japan suggests that Japan is far more heavily contaminated than any of these sites, as we have predicted. It is of the greatest concern that no data on uranium and plutonium have been published by the authorities there. Report.Data on EPA site

Location	date	U-238	U-234
Anaheim CA	15 March	ND	1628
Anaheim CA	20 March	ND	ND
Riverside CA	15 March	703	1300
San Francisco CA	18 March	518	ND
Saipan, Mariana Is.	21 March	10,360	4800
Saipan, Mariana Is.	24 March	7770	7030
Guam (Mariana Is.)	19 March	ND	ND
Guam (Mariana Is.)	23 March	7400	11,100
Oahu, Hawaii	23 March	4810	5920
Kauai, Hawaii	21 March	8140	7030
Seattle WA	18 March	ND	740
Mean levels AWE (Atomic Weapons Establishment, UK)	1998-2002	<200	ND

Iodine 131 and a classic magicians' distraction technique.

This post is about radio-Iodine but we have doubts about going with it. If the authorities can get us all thinking about Iodine and then reassure us that actually it's not a problem except for people in Japan (which is broadly true) then we might not realise that the really dangerous isotopes - Plutonium, Uranium, Strontium, Tritium in particular - are not even being reported. This is a massive failure of Governments' duty of care.

However, with that caveat, we'll fall into the Iodine trap because we have received many requests for advice since the Fukushima emergency began. Our early advice on taking stable Iodine is unchanged. It is here. The European Committee on Radiation Risk has published a method for calculating doses from drinking water or milk contaminated with Iodine 131. ECRR's main message is reassuring about the risks, so far as USA and Europe are concerned. They are not much different from what you hear from official sources.Calculating doses from Iodine. Take the figure for Becquerels per litre (Bq/l). (There is information on the internet. LLRC has no resources for monitoring it all). If, as in USA, the radioactivity levels are expressed in picoCuries (pCi), convert pCi to Becquerels (Bq) by multiplying by 0.037.
To convert a dietary intake into a dose multiply the Becquerels by 0.11 and the answer will be the dose in microSieverts. For example, if a litre of water is contaminated with 0.5 Bq, drinking it will give 0.5 x 0.11 = 0.055microSv. (This uses the ECRR adult dose coefficient for Iodine 131 which is slightly different to the ICRP dose coefficient - see ECRR 2010 p. 244).
The cancer risk associated with this dose is small. It can be calculated by dividing the dose in microSv by 1 billion. For the above example this means that if a billion people each drank a litre of water contaminated with 0.5 Bq then 5.5 of them would develop cancer over a period of 50 years. The individual person would increase his or her chances of getting cancer by 1 in 182 million. (This uses the ECRR cancer risk coefficient of 0.1 per Sievert which is different to the ICRP risk coefficient 0.05 per Sievert - see ECRR 2010 p. 180).

Note that this calculation is for a single intake. Iodine 131 loses half of its radioactivity in 8.04 days. This means that if your water supply comes from rainfall and if the rain becomes contaminated in a single episode the radioactivity will decay to 1/16th of its original concentration during a month and so on. That's assuming no further releases from the reactor affect your region.

april 20

http://www.naturalnews.com/026079_radiation_exposure_rosemary.html#ixzz1KK77IlGs

Rosemary Found to Offer Best Protection against Radiation Poisoning

Compounds from rosemary fight against mutagenic effects of radiation
...
In two separate studies, scientists in Spain found that nothing fights radiation damage to micronuclei like a simple garden herb known as rosemary. They noted that ionizing radiation causes the massive generation of free radicals that induce cellular DNA damage. They studied the protective effects of several compounds against gamma ray induced chromosomal damage in micronuclei testing by adding various compounds to human blood before and after irradiation. When the compounds were added after gamma-irradiation treatment, the protective effects relied not on scavenging ability, but on activity against free radicals already present in the cells, such as lipoperoxy radicals which are mainly responsible for continuous chromosomal oxidative damage.

The fact that carnosic acid and carnosol found in rosemary are fat soluble allows them to provide highly asignificant protective anti-mutagenic activity. Even the most powerful water-soluble antioxidants lack the capacity to protect against gamma ray induced damage. This study can be found in the British Journal of Radiology, February 2 edition.

In their second study, the generation of radiation induced cellular DNA damage to skin from free radicals was the focus. The researchers sought to demonstrate that rosmarinic acid from rosemary would act as a photo-protector both by acting as a scavenger of free radicals and as an inducer of the body's own endogenous defense mechanisms by regulating tyrosinase activity and stimulating melanin production. They found that formulation of toxic malonyldialdehyde was delayed by the use of rosmarinic acid, and the protection factor was 3.34 times greater than for other compounds studied, as measured in micronucleus testing. In vivo testing showed the capacity of orally administered rosmarinic acid to inhibit skin alterations as a result of UV radiation exposure. This study was reported in the February edition of Food and Chemical Toxicology.

...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Radioactive Iodine In Phoenix Arizona Milk 1600% Above EPA Drinking Water Limits
...
I have previously reported levels of radiation in Hawaii milk to be 2033% above the EPA federal drinking water limit those levels were from the combined radioactive contamination of Iodine and two Caesium isotopes combined. Yes, just like wine, alcohol and vodka all contribute to blood alcohol content levels radionuclides are also combined toward the EPA limit of 4 millirems per year in drinking water.

With the Phoenix Arizona milk samples, however, we simply have levels of Iodine along being reported at up 1600% above the EPA drinking water limit. Caesium and other radioactive isotopes were not reported. We usually do see the levels of each caesium isotope to be somewhere near the levels of Iodine contamination in milk meaning in reality we are most likely looking at actual radioactivity in the Phoenix milk samples somewhere in the neighborhood of 5000% above the EPA federal drinking water limit. ...(Alexander Higgins)

april 18

...
On Friday, the highest radiation level measured outside the double-entry doors of the Number 1 to 3 reactor buildings was 2 to 4 millisieverts per hour.

Radiation levels measured between the double doors of those reactor buildings was 270 millisieverts in the Number One reactor, 12 in Number 2, and 10 in Number 3.
The radiation level detected at the Number One reactor exceeds the national exposure limit of 250 millisieverts for nuclear contract workers.
... (NHK)

April 16-17, 2011 (WMR)

PRACTICAL HELP FOR OUR JAPANESE NEWS MEDIA FRIEND, HIS FAMILY, AND THEIR COLLEAGUES:

WMR's news media colleagues report massive shortages of basic foodstuffs and other essentials in Tokyo and environs. With mandatory blackouts and transportation disruptions, supply lines are experiencing fragmentation and food staples are in short supply on store shelves. Our good friend, who has just completed three years as the bureau chief in Washington, DC of Japan's Mainichi Shimbun newspaper is heading back to Tokyo with his family. If WMR readers are in a position to help, what he, his family, his colleagues and their families need right now are Ramen-type noodles, dried seaweed, AA and AAA batteries, evaporated milk (milk in and around Tokyo is reported to be at unsafe radiation levels), beef or other dried jerky packages, and powdered soup packages, which should be sent in small parcels to reduce mailing costs and potential customs difficulties. If your company is in a position to donate use of FEDEX, UPS, or DHL for sending small parcels, that would help with shipping costs. The mailing address for these parcels is: Kenichi Komatsu, Senior Writer, Mainichi Shimbun, 1-1-1, Hitotsubashi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8051, Japan. Whatever Kenichi and his family cannot use will be generously provided to his colleagues who are struggling to support their families' needs while trying to also report on the Fukushima nuclear disaster, as well as the damage wrought by the mega-quake and tsunami. Thanks to all. WMR appreciates the messages of support for its editor but the needs of our Japanese friends far outweigh any personal politically-connected problems being experienced in Washington at the present time.

april 14

http://www.rense.com/general93/chrisbsy.htm

Dr. Chris Busby Believes Fukushima Was A Nuclear Explosion

Question: "We see reports that Chernobyl in 1986 was 400 times Hiroshima why are reactor meltdowns so much more dirty that hydrogen or atomic explosions or is that wrong?"

Busby: "No, that's right, they are more dirty - and the reason they are more dirty is that they have vast amounts of uranium.

In the atomic bomb at Hiroshima was a limited amount of uranium maybe a ton we are talking about here is several thousand tons.

The amount of fuel rods there, as I understand it, was about 1,700 tons of spent fuel and each of these reactors contains and each of these reactors probably contains about 100-150 tons of uranium, plutonium and mixed radionuclides so there's just a lot more stuff, that's basically it.

The Chernobyl accident, which I think now having talked to some Russian nuclear physicists last week in Berlin was a nuclear explosion and not a hydrogen explosion because there was a particular fission ration of Xenon isotopes that define a nuclear explosion.

The Chernobyl explosion vaporized at very most 200 tons, and the argument was that it was only 50 tons. Well here we have a lot more than that we have a huge amount of fuel here that can go up in the air and a lot of it already has..."


Notes

Citing data collected by two Russian scientists, Professor Chris Busby said that the explosions at Fukushima were possibly nuclear. The Russian scientists, Sergey A. Pakhomov and Yuri V. Dubasov of the VG Khlopin Radium Institute in Saint Petersburg, examined data related to the explosion at Chernobyl.

Using ratios of the radionuclides Xenon 133 and Xenon 133m which they measured by gamma spectrometer, the Russians demonstrated that the Chernobyl explosion was a fission criticality explosion and not principally a hydrogen explosion as has been claimed.

"I believe that the explosion of the No 3 reactor may have also involved criticality but this must await the release of data on measurements of the Xenon isotope ratios," he writes in a statement on Fukushima and Chernobyl emailed to Infowars.com.

Busby further notes that the surface contamination and of dose rates 60 kilometers out from the Fukushima site on March 17 exceeded that released at Chernobyl.

He explains in his statement that the damaged reactors at Fukushima "are now continuing to fission. It is hoped that there will be no separation of plutonium and possible nuclear explosion. I feel that this is unlikely now." Short of an actual plutonium explosion, the reactors remain open to the air and will continue to "fission and release radionuclides for years unless something drastic is done."

Dr. Busby noted a precedent for the dire scenario now unfolding a nuclear explosion at a plutonium production reprocessing plant in the former Soviet Union in 1957.

The incident known as the Kyshtym disaster, at the Mayak facility was the second-worst nuclear accident in history after the Chernobyl disaster. The explosion released 50-100 tonnes of high-level radioactive waste and contaminated a huge territory in the eastern Urals. The Soviets kept the explosion secret for 30 years. According to a report on the accident, about 400,000 people in the region were irradiated following the explosion and other incidents at the plant.

Dr. Busby said that short of actual isotope readings, he cannot definitely state that the explosions at Fukushima were nuclear, although he believes they were.

"We don't have evidence of that," he concluded, "we would need to have the Xenon isotope ratios."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://blogs.forbes.com/jeffmcmahon/2011/04/14/why-does-fda-tolerate-more-radiation-than-epa/

Why Does FDA Tolerate More Radiation Than EPA?

...

Since the Environmental Protection Agency began detecting radiation in rainwater and milk at levels above its maximum contaminant level, government officials have been downplaying the importance of EPA’s maximum contaminant level.

They would much prefer us to speak in terms of the Food and Drug Administration’s “Derived Intervention Level.”

The two levels could hardly be more different:

EPA does not allow drinking water to contain more than 3 picoCuries per liter of radioactive istotopes like iodine-131 and cesium-137.
FDA allows up to 4,700 picoCuries of iodine-131 in a liter of milk and up to 33,000 picoCuries of cesium-137.

Officials from both agencies—as well as many state governments—explain the difference in terms of time: EPA assumes long-term exposure over 70 years. FDA assumes you’re encountering the radiation all at once.

But time isn’t the only difference between these two standards:

FDA tolerates a higher mortality rate.

In Hawaii, where milk from Hilo contained the highest levels seen so far, Environmental Health administrator Lynn Nakasone suggested the EPA’s standard is irrelevant to milk contamination.

“It’s like drinking two liters of water for 70 years to get (the EPA’s) limit,” Nakasone told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “So if you extrapolated to milk, you’d have to drink two liters of milk for 70 years to get that limit.”

Nakasone prefers the FDA’s standard. But here’s what Nakasone isn’t telling Hawaiians:

The EPA’s level is calculated so that in a population of one million people, the radiation will result in no more than one additional cancer fatality.
The FDA standard, on the other hand, accepts two extra cancer fatalities in a population of 10,000.

Why does the FDA tolerate more radiation, and more mortality, than the EPA?...

The Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, says the water temperature in the spent fuel storage pool at the No. 4 reactor in the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant has risen to about 90 degrees Celsius. It fears the spent fuel rods may be damaged. (NHK)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=127294

Japan Mulls Moving Capital over Disaster Worries

As powerful earthquakes continue to jolt Japan and radiation levels near Tokyo are rising, the Asian country's authorities are considering moving the capital to another city.

The most probable location for a new capital are Osaka and Nagoya, according to ITAR-TASS. Both cities are located near international airports.

...

see also: http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa101199.htm
...
In 1990, the Diet (Japan's parliament) passed a resolution to investigate moving Japan's capital city out of Tokyo. Within a few weeks, a committee will present their choice for the location of a brand-new capital city to the Prime Minister.
...

Tokai - a region around Nagoya, west of Tokyo
Hokuto - in northeast Japan, near Sendai
Mie-kio - northwest of Tokyo

...

april 12

...The Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan released a preliminary calculation Monday saying that the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant had been releasing up to 10,000 terabecquerels of radioactive materials per hour at some point after a massive quake and tsunami hit northeastern Japan on March 11. (Kyodo)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://llrc.org/index.html

Advice for the people of Japan

Large areas of Japan are contaminated to measured levels around 1 microsievert per hour. This figure is just for Caesium 137; it does not measure the alpha-emitting radionuclides Plutonium and Uranium. These contaminants are the real threat to health. No official sources are saying anything about this hazard although hundreds of tonnes of Uranium and Plutonium are missing from the spent fuel ponds. It's known that up to 1760 tonnes of spent fuel was stored on site. Some of it was in pools in the roofs of reactor containments which these high resolution aerial photos show to be absent, following explosions.

"Dose": the doses the Japanese government is publishing (e.g. here) are not a measure of risk. The data are for Caesium 137 which is easy to monitor because it is a strong gamma emitter. The data should be regarded as a signal for the very likely presence of the dangerous alpha emitting radionuclides like Uranium and beta emitters like Strontium-90 which are very hard to detect.

Food - LLRC advice: Vegetables and other foodstuffs showing more than 50 Bq/Kg Caesium indicate airborne contamination with other radionuclides. If food shows more than 50 Bq/Kg don't eat it unless you have absolutely no choice.
The Japanese government should immediately ask for international food aid supplies to prevent its people eating contaminated food.

Early signs of health damage: We have received information from people in the Tokyo region stating that they have swollen lymph nodes and sores in their nostrils. These are indicators that they have probably inhaled particles of Plutonium and Uranium.
LLRC advice: unless it is absolutely impossible to leave, evacuate to areas where there has been no fallout - check MEXT data (English) or MEXT data (Japanese) .

To evacuate or not? Here is a novel scientific approach to the problem of quantifying the health effects of radioactive pollution.
Put simply, in an area now contaminated to a level of 1 microsievert per hour the fallout raises every individual person's risk of getting cancer in the next 10 years by 11%.
How do we know this?
The Japanese authorities are publishing data on contamination levels in the form of hourly dose rates from Caesium137. It is therefore possible to calculate the cancer yield using the same criteria as used by Tondel and colleagues in a robust but conservative study of cancer in Sweden after Chernobyl. Sweden is known to have been contaminated with Uranium fuel although fallout mapping generally used data for Caesium, just as in Japan now, exactly 25 years later. Tondel and colleagues found an 11% increase in cancer incidence for each 100 kiloBecquerels Caesium137 on each square metre of ground. The cancers were expressed (diagnosed) in a ten year period; cancers appearing later than 10 years are of course possible but were not included in Tondel's study.
A longer description of the method is here as HTML. The detailed method as provided by Professor Busby is here as a PDF .

To calculate the additional risk from fallout,

download the charts for your prefecture from MEXT data (English) or MEXT data (Japanese):
Calculate the average rate; it is given in microsieverts per hour (µSv/h). (Exclude any short-term peaks as these will have been caused by radioactivity landing on the detectors and associated structures; it will since have been washed off by rain.)
Find the historical background rate for your area, given as Range of past usual figures at the bottom of the charts (typical values are 0.017 - 0.1) Subtract this from your average.
Multiply the result by 1565. Your new result will be the number of additional, fallout-related cancers expected in ten years for every 100,000 people in the population of your prefecture (This is over and above the pre-accident rate, calculated for all malignancies in the Japanese population.)

We will post a worked example on this page later and state the assumptions behind the 1565 multiplier.
We recommend you save the MEXT data sheets in case the government deletes them. It is important to know the true historical levels so that the additional exposure from fallout can be calculated in future.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.iwatchnews.org/2011/04/12/4122/food-safety-labs-may-not-have-capacity-handle-crisis-japans

Food safety labs may not have capacity to handle a crisis like Japan's

Aaron Mehta and Laurel Adams

As Japan struggles with a radiation emergency, the network of laboratories in charge of keeping nuclear contamination out of American food is under fire for being unprepared and understaffed.

The Department of Agriculture inspector general found that while the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service has provided training, equipment, and established protocols for the Food Emergency Response Network (FERN), it has yet to implement it.

After the 9/11 attacks, President George W. Bush signed a presidential directive to protect food supplies. FERN is the national laboratory network charged with responding to biological, chemical or radiological contamination of food—essentially the front line in making sure Americans’ food is safe to eat in case of an emergency.

The inspector general found that FERN cannot ensure laboratories within the network actually have the capacity to respond to emergencies. It has a cooperative agreement with 25 labs, but it also relies on another 95 labs as part of its network. It has not verified information about the capabilities of the 95 labs outside of the cooperative agreement.

The IG said three of the labs lack capabilities that the government is counting on. One laboratory was listed as being capable of testing for two types of bacteria, E. coli and Campylobacter, which it could not actually perform. The same lab said it was capable of testing 2,500 samples for salmonella, but under the required testing method, the lab was told it could only test for 150. Another lab wrongly stated that it could test for anthrax.

“There is little assurance that these laboratories will be able to assume testing responsibilities as needed,” the inspector general said. “If FSIS discovers during an emergency that laboratories lack their listed testing capabilities, the agency may lose valuable time finding a laboratory that can analyze a sample for a particular threat.”

...

Patty Lovera, the assistant director for the nonprofit Food and Water Watch, said the report’s findings don’t inspire confidence in the food safety system. She also pointed to a long history of communication problems between FSIS and the FDA. “It’s been like pulling teeth to get them to talk to each other,” she said. “They’re really very different places and cultures that set them up.”

...

Weeks after a massive earthquake damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor, the situation has continued to deteriorate. Nuclear regulators have now marked the reactor as a class 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale, the only time since the Chernobyl meltdown that designation has been assigned. Public health officials have continued to downplay the danger from radiation or contaminated food, however. The World Health Organization told reporters that there is “little” health risk outside of the designated zone around the reactor.

But according to Lovera, testing has confirmed higher levels of radiation in milk from cows in California, Washington, Arkansas, Hawaii and Vermont. Officials have said the radiation levels are not harmful, as the radiation is roughly the equivalent of an X-ray or CAT scan. But Lovera said people don’t ingest radiation during medical procedures. Given the amount of radiation people are exposed to on a daily basis, she argued, it is “all the more reason not to get exposed to [radiation in] things like food and drinking water.”

The IG’s report comes as Congress and President Obama struck a deal on a proposed budget that would cut $11 million from the FDA’s budget request. At an appropriations hearing in March, FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg expressed concern about the FDA’s current ability to handle a nuclear emergency. “We are lacking some critical elements of preparedness” she told Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis.

Additional cuts include $10 million from USDA’s meat and poultry inspection budget.

Last month the Center reported on another IG audit warning that methods employed by FSIS to inspect meat for E. coli were flawed.

April 11

China and South Korea have also criticised Japan's handling of the nuclear crisis, with Seoul calling it incompetent, reflecting growing international unease over the month-long atomic disaster and the spread of radiation...(au.news.yahoo)

april 9
...
The government also moved to ban the planting of rice in soil containing too much radioactive material, which has been released from the Fukushima Daiichi plant in the weeks since a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami. Sales of some milk, vegetables and fish have been prohibited because of contamination, but the new measures affect the nation’s staple crop, a foundation of its culture as well as its diet.

The new policy on rice will ban planting of the crop in soil that has more than 5,000 becquerels of cesium-137 per kilogram of soil.

So far, radiation testers have found only two spots in northeastern Japan, both in the town of Iitate, 25 miles from the Fukushima Daiichi plant, that has had cesium levels that high. Cesium-137 can damage cells and lead to an increased risk of cancer.

The national and prefectural governments are now hurriedly performing broader soil surveys to identify which areas would be off limits to planting.

With planting about to begin, “we don’t have so much time,” said Sumito Yasuoka, an official in the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, who said farmers pressed the government to let them know if they could plant their crop. The government also wants to assure consumers that the rice they eat will be safe.

The level of 5,000 becquerels per kilogram was chosen because rice grown in such soil would be expected to end up with about 500 becquerels of cesium 137 in the rice. That is the existing limit for vegetables and some other foods, Mr. Yasuoka said.

Fukushima Prefecture is the nation’s fourth-largest rice producer, and rice is its biggest crop, so any ban on planting would cause financial hardship.

“It hurts terribly,” said Yoshinori Sato, an official of an agricultural cooperative in Fukushima Prefecture with 13,000 households as members. Mr. Sato said that about half the rice acres his co-op’s members hoped to plant this year might be off limits, either because of radiation or because of tsunami damage.

Mindful of the sensitivities, Michihiko Kano, the minister of agriculture, visited Iitate on Saturday and promised that farmers who were not allowed to grow rice because of soil contamination would be compensated. (NYT)

april 6

http://newamericamedia.org/2011/04/is-japans-elite-hiding-a-weapons-program-inside-nuclear-plants.php

Is Japan's Elite Hiding a Weapons Program Inside Nuclear Plants?

Yoichi Shimatsu

Confused and often conflicting reports out of Fukushima 1 nuclear plant cannot be solely the result of tsunami-caused breakdowns, bungling or miscommunication. Inexplicable delays and half-baked explanations from Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) seem to be driven by some unspoken factor.

The smoke and mirrors at Fukushima 1 seem to obscure a steady purpose, an iron will and a grim task unknown to outsiders. The most logical explanation: The nuclear industry and government agencies are scrambling to prevent the discovery of atomic-bomb research facilities hidden inside Japan's civilian nuclear power plants.

A secret nuclear weapons program is a ghost in the machine, detectable only when the system of information control momentarily lapses or breaks down. A close look must be taken at the gap between the official account and unexpected events.

related post: japan should go nuke

Conflicting Reports

TEPCO, Japan’s nuclear power operator, initially reported three reactors were operating at the time of the March 11 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. Then a hydrogen explosion ripped Unit 3, run on plutonium-uranium mixed oxide (or MOX). Unit 6 immediately disappeared from the list of operational reactors, as highly lethal particles of plutonium billowed out of Unit 3. Plutonium is the stuff of smaller, more easily delivered warheads.

A fire ignited inside the damaged housing of the Unit 4 reactor, reportedly due to overheating of spent uranium fuel rods in a dry cooling pool. But the size of the fire indicates that this reactor was running hot for some purpose other than electricity generation. Its omission from the list of electricity-generating operations raises the question of whether Unit 4 was being used to enrich uranium, the first step of the process leading to extraction of weapons-grade fissionable material.

The bloom of irradiated seawater across the Pacific comprises another piece of the puzzle, because its underground source is untraceable (or, perhaps, unmentionable). The flooded labyrinth of pipes, where the bodies of two missing nuclear workers—never before disclosed to the press— were found, could well contain the answer to the mystery: a lab that none dare name.

Political Warfare

In reaction to Prime Minister Naoto Kan's demand for prompt reporting of problems, the pro-nuclear lobby has closed ranks, fencing off and freezing out the prime minister's office from vital information. A grand alliance of nuclear proponents now includes TEPCO, plant designer General Electric, METI, the former ruling Liberal Democratic Party and, by all signs, the White House.

Cabinet ministers in charge of communication and national emergencies recently lambasted METI head Banri Kaeda for acting as both nuclear promoter and regulator in charge of the now-muzzled Nuclear and Industrial Safety Commission. TEPCO struck back quickly, blaming the prime minister's helicopter fly-over for delaying venting of volatile gases and thereby causing a blast at Reactor 2. For "health reasons,” TEPCO 's president retreated to a hospital ward, cutting Kan's line of communication with the company and undermining his site visit to Fukushima 1.

Kan is furthered hampered by his feud with Democratic Party rival Ichiro Ozawa, the only potential ally with the clout to challenge the formidable pro-nuclear coalition

The head of the Liberal Democrats, which sponsored nuclear power under its nearly 54-year tenure, has just held confidential talks with U.S. Ambassador John Roos, while President Barack Obama was making statements in support of new nuclear plants across the U.S.

Cut Off From Communications

The substance of undisclosed talks between Tokyo and Washington can be surmised from disruptions to my recent phone calls to a Japanese journalist colleague. While inside the radioactive hot zone, his roaming number was disconnected, along with the mobiles of nuclear workers at Fukushima 1 who are denied phone access to the outside world. The service suspension is not due to design flaws. When helping to prepare the Tohoku crisis response plan in 1996, my effort was directed at ensuring that mobile base stations have back-up power with fast recharge.

A subsequent phone call when my colleague returned to Tokyo went dead when I mentioned "GE.” That incident occurred on the day that GE’s CEO Jeff Immelt landed in Tokyo with a pledge to rebuild the Fukushima 1 nuclear plant. Such apparent eavesdropping is only possible if national phone carrier NTT is cooperating with the signals-intercepts program of the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA).

The Manchurian Deal

The chain of events behind this vast fabrication goes back many decades.

During the Japanese militarist occupation of northeast China in the 1930s, the puppet state of Manchukuo was carved out as a fully modern economic powerhouse to support overpopulated Japan and its military machine. A high-ranking economic planner named Nobusuke Kishi worked closely with then commander of the occupying Kanto division, known to the Chinese as the Kwantung Army, General Hideki Tojo.

Close ties between the military and colonial economists led to stunning technological achievements, including the prototype of a bullet train (or Shinkansen) and inception of Japan's atomic bomb project in northern Korea. When Tojo became Japan's wartime prime minister, Kishi served as his minister of commerce and economy, planning for total war on a global scale.

After Japan's defeat in 1945, both Tojo and Kishi were found guilty as Class-A war criminals, but Kishi evaded the gallows for reasons unknown—probably his usefulness to a war-ravaged nation. The scrawny economist’s conception of a centrally managed economy provided the blueprint for MITI (Ministry of International Trade and Industry), the predecessor of METI, which created the economic miracle that transformed postwar Japan into an economic superpower.

After clawing his way into the good graces of Cold Warrior John Foster Dulles, Eisenhower's secretary of state, Kishi was elected prime minister in 1957. His protégé Yasuhiro Nakasone, the former naval officer and future prime minister, spearheaded Japan's campaign to become a nuclear power under the cover of the Atomic Energy Basic Law.

American Complicity

Kishi secretly negotiated a deal with the White House to permit the U.S. military to store atomic bombs in Okinawa and Atsugi naval air station outside Tokyo. (Marine corporal Lee Harvey Oswald served as a guard inside Atsugi's underground warhead armory.) In exchange, the U.S. gave the nod for Japan to pursue a "civilian" nuclear program.

Secret diplomacy was required due to the overwhelming sentiment of the Japanese public against nuclear power in the wake of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings. Two years ago, a text of the secret agreement was unearthed by Katsuya Okada, foreign minister in the cabinet of the first Democratic Party prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama (who served for nine months from 2009-10).

see: Gov't to admit existence of secret pact on nuke introduction

Many key details were missing from this document, which had been locked inside the Foreign Ministry archives. Retired veteran diplomat Kazuhiko Togo disclosed that the more sensitive matters were contained in brief side letters, some of which were kept in a mansion frequented by Kishi's half-brother, the late Prime Minister Eisaku Sato (who served from 1964-72). Those most important diplomatic notes, Togo added, were removed and subsequently disappeared.

These revelations were considered a major issue in Japan, yet were largely ignored by the Western media. With the Fukushima nuclear plant going up in smoke, the world is now paying the price of that journalistic neglect.

On his 1959 visit to Britain, Kishi was flown by military helicopter to the Bradwell nuclear plant in Essex. The following year, the first draft of the U.S.-Japan security was signed, despite massive peace protests in Tokyo. Within a couple of years, the British firm GEC built Japan's first nuclear reactor at Tokaimura, Ibaragi Prefecture. At the same time, just after the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, the newly unveiled Shinkansen train gliding past Mount Fuji provided the perfect rationale for nuclear-sourced electricity.

Kishi uttered the famous statement that "nuclear weapons are not expressly prohibited" under the postwar Constitution's Article 9 prohibiting war-making powers. His words were repeated two years ago by his grandson, then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The ongoing North Korea "crisis" served as a pretext for this third-generation progeny of the political elite to float the idea of a nuclear-armed Japan. Many Japanese journalists and intelligence experts assume the secret program has sufficiently advanced for rapid assembly of a warhead arsenal and that underground tests at sub-critical levels have been conducted with small plutonium pellets.

Sabotaging Alternative Energy

The cynical attitude of the nuclear lobby extends far into the future, strangling at birth the Japanese archipelago's only viable source of alternative energy—offshore wind power. Despite decades of research, Japan has only 5 percent of the wind energy production of China, an economy (for the moment, anyway) of comparable size. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, a nuclear-power partner of Westinghouse, manufactures wind turbines but only for the export market.

The Siberian high-pressure zone ensures a strong and steady wind flow over northern Japan, but the region's utility companies have not taken advantage of this natural energy resource. The reason is that TEPCO, based in Tokyo and controlling the largest energy market, acts much as a shogun over the nine regional power companies and the national grid. Its deep pockets influence high bureaucrats, publishers and politicians like Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara, while nuclear ambitions keep the defense contractors and generals on its side. Yet TEPCO is not quite the top dog. Its senior partner in this mega-enterprise is Kishi's brainchild, METI.

The national test site for offshore wind is unfortunately not located in windswept Hokkaido or Niigata, but farther to the southeast, in Chiba Prefecture. Findings from these tests to decide the fate of wind energy won't be released until 2015. The sponsor of that slow-moving trial project is TEPCO.

Death of Deterrence

Meanwhile in 2009, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) issued a muted warning on Japan's heightened drive for a nuclear bomb— and promptly did nothing. The White House has to turn a blind eye to the radiation streaming through American skies or risk exposure of a blatant double standard on nuclear proliferation by an ally. Besides, Washington's quiet approval for a Japanese bomb doesn't quite sit well with the memory of either Pearl Harbor or Hiroshima.

In and of itself, a nuclear deterrence capability would be neither objectionable nor illegal— in the unlikely event that the majority of Japanese voted in favor of a constitutional amendment to Article 9. Legalized possession would require safety inspections, strict controls and transparency of the sort that could have hastened the Fukushima emergency response. Covert weapons development, in contrast, is rife with problems. In the event of an emergency, like the one happening at this moment, secrecy must be enforced at all cost— even if it means countless more hibakusha, or nuclear victims.

Instead of enabling a regional deterrence system and a return to great-power status, the Manchurian deal planted the time bombs now spewing radiation around the world. The nihilism at the heart of this nuclear threat to humanity lies not inside Fukushima 1, but within the national security mindset. The specter of self-destruction can be ended only with the abrogation of the U.S.-Japan security treaty, the root cause of the secrecy that fatally delayed the nuclear workers' fight against meltdown

Yoichi Shimatsu, a Hong Kong–based environmental writer, is the former editor of the Japan Times Weekly.

april 5

The operator of Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear plant said Tuesday that it had found radioactive iodine at 7.5 million times the legal limit in a seawater sample taken near the facility...On Monday, officials detected more than 4,000 bequerels of iodine-131 per kilogram in a type of fish called a sand lance caught less than three miles offshore of the town of Kita-Ibaraki. The young fish also contained 447 bequerels of cesium-137...On Tuesday chief cabinet secretary Yukio Edano said the government was imposing a standard of 2,000 bequerels of iodine per kilogram of fish, the same level it allows in vegetables. Previously, the government did not have a specific level for fish. (LA times/McClatchy)

april 4

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/04_10.html

Govt did not reveal high level radiation estimate

It has been learned that the Japanese government withheld the release of computer projections indicating high levels of radioactivity in areas more than 30 kilometers from the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The estimates were made on March 16th following explosions at the plant by an institute commissioned by the government using a computer system called SPEEDI. The system made its projections on the assumption that radioactive substances had been released for 24 hours from midnight on March 14th, based on the available data.

But the government was reluctant to reveal the SPEEDI projections, and did not release them until March 23rd.
The released data showed that higher levels of radioactive substances would flow over areas to the northwest and southwest of the plant.

The estimates showed that the radiation would exceed 100 millisieverts in some areas more than 30 kilometers from the nuclear plant if people remained outdoors for 24 hours between March 12th and 24th.

That is 100 times higher than the 1 millisievert-per-year long-term reference level for humans as recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection.

The Nuclear Safety Commission says it did not release the projections because the location or the amount of radioactive leakage was not specified at the time.

Professor emeritus Shigenobu Nagataki of Nagasaki University, says the government should release more data about the dangers of possible radiation exposure and draw up evacuation plans and other measures together with residents.

Japan’s Nuclear Safety Agency confirmed that radioactive iodine-131 in seawater samples taken near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex that was seriously damaged by the recent tsunami off the coast of Japan is 4,385 times the level permitted by law. (Al Jazeera)

march 31

http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/actualite/planete/20110330.OBS0513/non-dits-et-secrets-omerta-sur-le-nucleaire-francais.html

Guillaume Malaurie

Non-dits et secrets: omerta sur le nucléaire français

Symbole de notre indépendance militaire et énergétique, le nucléaire est une affaire d'Etat. Plongée au cœur du lobby de l'atome.

C'est formidable, le hasard. Quelques jours après le début de la catastrophe de la centrale nucléaire de Fukushima, une brochette de personnalités a priori très différentes les unes des autres ont toutes prononcé la même petite phrase : « Si les Japonais avaient eu un réacteur EPR français, ça ne serait jamais arrivé !» Un argument massue invérifiable, contestable, mais efficace. Parmi ces porte-parole, il y eut dans le rôle de l'expert Thomas Oudré, haut responsable de l'Agence de Sûreté nucléaire, côté élus, les députés Philippe Daubresse (UMP) ou Christian Bataille (PS), mais aussi Henri Guaino, conseiller de Sarkozy, le multicarte Claude Allegre, et même l'éditorialiste Eric Zemmour dont on ignorait jusque-là les compétences en physique nucléaire.

Précisons tout de même que cet EPR 100% antichoc et antifuite n'existe en vrai nulle part au monde et est toujours en chantier en Finlande où il accuse quatre ans de retard sur l'agenda initial pour des problèmes de sécurité : il aura fallu ajouter 25% de ferraillage dans le béton de l'enceinte à la demande des Finlandais. Mais peu importe : pour les supporters de l'EPR, il s'agit d'une grande cause nationale. Il faut donc marteler l'argument de l'excellence atomique française. Mobiliser les hussards de l'atome un peu désorientés, les amis hésitants, les obligés récalcitrants et donc organiser les relais d'opinion. Question : qui est à l'origine de la version originale de la petite phrase sur l'EPR reprise en choeur ? Le 16 mars, Anne Lauvergeon, la patronne d'Areva, en donne une version impeccable devant les députés : « S'il y avait eu des EPR à Fukushima, il n'y aurait pas de fuites possibles dans l'environnement, quelle que que soit la situation. » (...)

Intérêts économiques et stratégiques

Depuis un demi-siècle, les intérêts économiques et stratégiques du nucléaire civil sont si vertigineux qu'ils se confondent avec l'intérêt supérieur de l'Etat. Cela peut se concevoir... A condition toutefois que la puissance publique inspire confiance et puisse rassurer l'opinion quand survient un pépin ou un accident dans une centrale. Or, depuis des lustres, le grand bond de l'énergie nucléaire repose sur des non-dits, des silences, des secrets. Il aura fallu Tchernobyl et la fable du nuage radioactif bloqué aux frontières du Rhin pour que l'imposture soit révélée : «La crédibilité des organismes officiels liés au nucléaire demeure aujourd'hui faible, voire très faible », note Frédérick Lemarchand, sociologue du risque à l'université de Caen. Le cataclysme en cours à Fukushima n'arrange rien... Alors le lobby, qui sent bien que le pacte avec les Français se dégrade, se réfugie dans la communication. Exemple très récent : dès le début de la crise, surgissait sur toutes les chaînes de télévision un « expert » jusque-là inconnu et réputé indépendant. Son nom : Francis Sorin. Présenté comme « directeur du pôle information de la Société française d'Energie nucléaire », il affiche une neutralité de bon aloi. Sauf que sa « société savante » n'est, à y regarder de plus près, rien d'autre qu'une filiale associative de la filière nucléaire, qui relaie donc très fidèlement sa doctrine. (...)

Menace de Bruxelles

(...) Des voix s'élèvent, à l'intérieur de ce microcosme, pour réclamer un aggiornamento. "Si c'est toujours la même main qui gère et qui contrôle, ce n'est pas rassurant. On ne peut plus laisser le débat sur les énergies à la discrétion des seuls techniciens !", estime Michel Destot, député-maire PS de Grenoble et ancien chercheur au CEA. Mais lorsque Bertrand Pancher, député UMP de la Meuse, propose qu'un organisme indépendant organise ce très large débat public à la manière scandinave, le groupe UMP se rebiffe.

"Je me suis fait siffler, confie-t-il, meurtri. C'est n'importe quoi, on ne va pas pouvoir continuer comme ça !" Il faut dire qu'à l'Assemblée, les gardiens du temple nucléaire tous partis confondus, de Claude Gatignol (UMP) à Christian Bataille (PS), veillent toujours au grain. Mais jusqu'à quand ? C'est maintenant de Bruxelles que vient la menace la plus sérieuse pour la technocratie nucléaire française. Le commissaire européen chargé de l'énergie, l'Allemand Günter Oettinger, avait déjà exaspéré Nicolas Sarkozy quand il avait utilisé le mot "apocalypse" pour évoquer la catastrophe de Fukushima. Et voilà que le même commissaire demande la semaine dernière que l'on procède à des tests de résistance sur toutes les centrales nucléaires de l'Union européenne. Pire : il précise que les expertises doivent être indépendantes. Le lobby nucléaire français se mobilise pour que l'Elysée mette son veto à l'ingérence. Finalement les nucléocrates français ont obtenu que les autorités nationales - et non européennes - procèdent à ces tests. "La position de Paris était intenable, explique Michèle Rivasi, députée Europe Ecologie à Strasbourg. Comment expliquer à la population qu'on refuse en France des inspections sérieuses qui vont aussi concerner, en Europe centrale, des réacteurs vieillissants et donc dangereux ?"

march 30

http://www.naturalnews.com/031878_radiation_protection.html

...The Swedish Government monitored the radiation level of foods following the Chernobyl disaster. They found that most animal based foods including meat, dairy, and fish had higher levels of radioactive substances than fruits, vegetables, grains, and potatoes. Eating plant based foods can reduce exposure to radioactive substances by avoiding concentrations of these substances in animal fat and tissues. A plant centered diet in the midst of radiation exposure provides lower levels of radioactive substances as well as fiber, antioxidants, and phytochemicals that have the potential to reduce cancer rates associated with radiation exposure.
A study evaluating over 30,000 atomic bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki found that those with the highest consumption of fruits and vegetables had a 13% lower risk of dying from cancer over the twenty year study period than those who consumed fruits and vegetables less than once per week. Sulfur-containing antioxidants found in cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli, kale, and cabbage, have been found to provide protection against radiation exposure through their detoxifying properties. Pectin in fruits has also been shown to reduce levels of the radioactive substance Cs-137. Plant based foods provide protection against free radical damage and they can reduce the absorption of radioactive substances.

A study published in Russia reviewed the protective nature of dietary fiber against radiation. Researchers used concentrates of dietary fiber from lemon peel and beet root among other plants and found that the fiber did have radioprotective properties. The authors concluded that concentrated dietary fiber can be used in human nutrition to accelerate the elimination of nuclides or radioactive elements.

IAEA Briefing on Fukushima Nuclear Emergency (news center IAEA Fukushima)

20, 21, 22, 23 march

IAEA map of depositions and plume 16-22 march

Fukushima/radiation in food: EU tolerance limits for radiation in food imports less strict than Japan; Greens demand revision

	General Food		Milk and dairy		Infant food		Water / Liquid foodstuff
	EU	Japan	EU	Japan	EU	Japan	EU	Japan ^(b)
Iodine I-131	200	200 ^(a)	500	300	150	100	500	300
Cesium Cs 134 - 137	1250	500	1000	200	400	n.a	1000	200
Plutonium and transuranic elements Am, Pt	80	10	20	1	1	1	20	1
Strontium Sr-90	750	n.a	125	n.a	75	n.a	125	n.a

Comparison: maximum permitted levels of contamination of foodstuff EU-Japan - values in bq/kg or bq/l

For vegetables except root vegetables and tubers - does not include grains, meat and fish as the EU value

(b) For drinking water - not specified for other liquid foodstuff

Source EU Values: Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 297/2011 of 25 March 2011 imposing special conditions governing the import of feed and food originating in or consigned from Japan following the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power station. This regulation to values under Council Regulation (Euratom) No 3954/87 of 22 December 1987 laying down maximum permitted levels of radioactive contamination of foodstuffs and of feedingstuffs following a nuclear accident or any other case of radiological emergency.

Source Japanese Values: Notice No. 0317 Article 3 of the Department of Food Safety - 17 March 2011

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chernobyl killed several hundred thousands

...

A detailed study reveals that 3.8–4.0% of all deaths in the contaminated territories of Ukraine and Russia from 1990 to 2004 were caused by the Chernobyl catastrophe. The lack of evidence of increased mortality in other affected countries is not proof of the absence of effects from the radioactive fallout. Since 1990, mortality among liquidators has exceeded themortality rate in corresponding population groups. From 112,000 to 125,000 liquidators died before 2005—that is, some 15% of the 830,000 members of the Chernobyl cleanup teams. The calculations suggest that the Chernobyl catastrophe has already killed several hundred thousand human beings in a population of several hundred million that was unfortunate enough to live in territories affected by the fallout. The number of Chernobyl victims will continue to grow over many future generations.

...

p.192, Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment, Alexey V. Yablokov, Vassily B. Nesterenko, Alexey V. Nesterenko - ANNALS OF THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES - Volume 1181 - Blackwell Publishing, Boston, Massachusetts, 2009

related posts:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

useful links:

2010 Recommendations of the European Committee on Radiation Risk (ECRR)

map of Japan in english

updated map of japanese nuclear power plants

Guidance for Radiation Accident Management

Rapid internal external dose magnitude estimation

Radiations: definitions

Types of radiation exposure

Japan Times emergency assistance in english, resources for foreigners residing in Japan

BBC Edited Guide Radioactivity

BBC EG The measurement of radioactivity

UNIT CONVERTERS AND CALCULATORS

Online unit converter

Activity Conversions

Beta Emitter Dose-Rate <--> Activity Calculations

Gamma Emitter Point Source Dose-Rate <-to-> Activity and Shielding Calculations (In Air)

ALARA Calculations (Time, Distance and Shielding)

WISE uranium calculator

About Geiger counter

NEWS SITES in english and french

CRIIRAD France fr

The Low Level Radiation Campaign (LLRC)

Fukushima Green Action Japan en

Nuclear information and resource service en

Peak of oil en

European Committee on Radiation Risk

ECRR Risk Model and radiation from Fukushima

Newswires

Kyodo news agency en

Nikkei en

Jiji Press en (via Google News)

Newspapers

The Manichi Daily News en

The Japan Times en

Yomiuri Shimbun en

The Asahi Shimbun en

Others

World Information Service on Energy (WISE)

Green Action Japan en

Greenpeace Fukushima

Exposure limits in France: http://www.criirad.org/actualites/dossier2011/japon/limites.pdf

International Nuclear and radiological Event Scale ( INES )

map of Japan with significant radioactivity measurments

winds observations for south Tohuku

12 days wind forecast Japan

Global Jetstream Wind

Atlas of Caesium Deposition on Europe after the Chernobyl Accident online.

Live and archived radioactivity data:

Fuel rod fires plume map 15 march

Northen hemisphere radioactive plume map 15-18 march

ONAGAWA

http://www.tohoku-epco.co.jp/emergency/9/
live data from the Oganawa plant (nGy/h)

PREFECTURE of IBARAKI

http://www.pref.ibaraki.jp/important/20110311eq/

TOKYO

http://www.atom.pref.kanagawa.jp/cgi-bin2/telemeter_map.cgi?Area=kawasaki_t&Type=WM
http://www.atom.pref.kanagawa.jp/cgi-bin2/telemeter_map.cgi?Area=yokosuka&Type=WM

TOKAI

http://www.houshasen-pref-ibaraki.jp/present/result01.html

USA radioactivity Counts Per Minute (CPM: 1 Bq= 60 CPM) data: http://www.radiationnetwork.com/

Atlas of Caesium Deposition on Europe after the Chernobyl Accident online.

Bibliography

Contamination radioactives: Atlas France et Europe, CRIIRAD and André Paris, Editions Yves Michel, 2002, ISBN 2913492150.

(1) Atlas of Caesium Deposition on Europe after the Chernobyl Accident, Eur 16733, Luxembourg, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 1998, ISBN 92-828-3140-X (PDF)

THE OTHER REPORT ON CHERNOBYL (TORCH) , Ian Fairlie, PhD, UK. David Sumner, DPhil, UK, Prof. Angelina Nyagu, Ukraine Berlin, Brussels, Kiev, April 2006 COMMISSIONED BY Rebecca Harms, MEP, Greens/EFA in the European Parliament WITH THE SUPPORT OF The Altner Combecher Foundation

Radioprotection 2003, Vol. 38, No 4, pp. 529-542, ‘The Chernobyl fallout in France, critical review measurement-results obtained at that time and lessons learned for crisis management’, Ph. Renaud and D. Louvat (PDF)

2010 Recommendations of the European Committee on Radiation Risk, The Health Effects of Exposure to Low Doses of Ionising Radiation, Chris Busby, with Rosalie Bertell, Inge Schmitz Feuerhake Molly Scott Cato and Alexey Yablokov, Green Audit Press, Castle Cottage, Aberystwyth, SY23 1DZ, United Kingdom 2010 (PDF)

other related posts:

cartoon: the magic of marketing

map of japan in english

2011-04-17T23:23:00.000+01:00

.
http://en.18dao.net/images/9/93/Map-Japan.jpg

arthur zbygniew

syria poll: 55% want assad to stay!

guantanamo forever

printemps syrien: pure fiction!

cairo: army uses extreme violence against demonstrators (video)

the city of london: plutocracy pure and simple

libya control war map september 2011

no moral case for tax havens

japan: radioactive contamination map μsv/h

france, legalisation cannabis: 36% favorable

Le débat

gheddafi: elezioni subito, puo candidarsi bhl

declassify interpretation of patriot act says senator

pedophilie: hubert vedrine, ministre francais

top panel says war on drugs cannot be won

fukushima: "tokyo could become off limits"

fukushima updates

presse: le monde nage sous le caniveau

alarming rates of radioactivity even in europe

mean atmospheric radon world map

evacuate tokyo; fukushima is an a-weapon plant!

Aaron Mehta and Laurel Adams

Intérêts économiques et stratégiques

Menace de Bruxelles

uk : radioactive waste may be landfilled

radiation health risks: the iaea lies

us used nuke during iran irak war

nuke war likely to solve dollar economy problem

nuke: pentagon revises no first use doctrine

radiations: int'l committee against body scanners

navi velenose affondate dalla malavita

eu commission careless about du contamination

italia: pellet radioattivo

map of japan in english

Age group	Equivalent mass of iodine (milligrams(mg))	Potassium iodate (mg)	Potassium iodide (mg) ¹
Adults	100	168.9	130
Children aged 3-12 years	50	84.4	65
Children aged 1 month-under 3 years	25	42.2	30-35
Neonates (birth-under 1 month)	12.5	21.1	15